Consultative Council (Bahrain)
Consultative Council مجلس الشورى Majlis al-shura | ||
|---|---|---|
Chairman | Ali bin Saleh Al Saleh since 15 December 2008 | |
Secretary-General | Abdul Jalil Ibrahim Al Tarif | |
| Structure | ||
| Seats | 40 members | |
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Political groups | Independents (40) | |
| Elections | ||
| Appointed by the King | ||
| Meeting place | ||
| Manama | ||
| Website | ||
| www | ||
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| Judiciary |
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| Administrative divisions (governorates) |
 Bahrain portal |
The Consultative Council (Majlis al-shura), also known as the Shura Council, is the upper house of the National Assembly, the main legislative body of Bahrain.
The Council comprises forty members appointed directly by the
Alees Samann made history in the Arab world on 18 April 2004 when she became the first woman to chair a session of parliament in the region. The BBC reported: "Incidents of this kind in the Arab world are increasingly being seen as signs of a gradual change towards more open and democratic societies in the entire region."[1]
Supporters of the system refer to democracies such as the
Critics state that the
Following a political reconciliation between the government and the four party Shia Islamist Al Wefaq-led opposition, there have been persistent rumours that the government is preparing to nominate their activists to the Shura Council. While government officials have denied the plan, reports in the press in April 2006 claimed that opposition leaders have received assurances from a government middleman that some of their iconic figures could be appointed to the Shura. The report added that the opposition leaders "neither accepted nor rejected the offer, but promised to study it carefully".[2]
Three female members of the Consultative Council have been appointed to the government:
In December 2022 Jehad Al Fadhel, who had been a member of the COuncil since 2012, was appointed Second Deputy Chairman of the Shura Council.[3]
The chairman of the Consultative Council serves as the chairman of the joint
See also
- List of Chairmen of the Consultative Council of Bahrain
- Politics of Bahrain
References
- ^ BBC, 19 April 2005, Bahraini woman chairs parliament
- ^ Report on induction of opposition members into Shura Council denied
- ^ "Bio of Jehad Abdulla Mohamad alFadhel". Retrieved March 15, 2024.