2006 Bahraini general election
General elections were held in Bahrain in November and December 2006 to elect the forty members of the Council of Representatives. The first round of voting was held on 25 November, with a second round on 2 December 2006.
Advertisement urging Bahrainis to vote in the 2 December run-offs
Election meeting for Wa'ad candidate Ibrahim Sharif
Opposition leaders at Wa'ad election meeting. Ali Salman on the left end of the table, Munira Fakhro on the right
Al-Wefaq National Islamic Society, sometimes shortened to simply Al-Wefaq, was a Shi'a Bahraini political party, that operates clandestinely after being ordered by the highest court in Bahrain to be dissolved and liquidated. Although from 2006 to 2011 it was by far the single largest party in the Bahraini legislature, with 18 representatives in the 40-member Bahraini parliament, it was often outvoted by coalition blocs of opposition Sunni parties and independent MPs reflecting gerrymandering of electoral districts. On 27 February 2011, the 18 Al-Wefaq members of parliament submitted letters of resignation to protest regime violence against pro-reform Bahraini protestors.
Wefaq party headquarters in Zinj, Bahrain.
Ali Salman delivering a speech during a pro-democracy sit-in in Muqsha'a