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Bahrain

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The Economists Bloc is a liberal political party in Bahrain which was represented by three MPs in the 2002-2006 parliament, but lost all its seats in the 2006 general election.

The party was the most consistent advocate of human rights, democratisation and free market economics in parliament. Because the main challenge to liberal values comes from Islamists, the party often found itself in a de facto alliance with the former communists of the Democratic Bloc (another party that lost all its seats in 2006's election).

While generally supportive of the government, it has not been uncritically so. The party campaigned for compensation for those that suffered past human rights abuses, with the party's President Jassim Abdula'al MP forwarding a motion to parliamentary speaker, Khalifa Al Dhahrani. Mr Abdula'al said that the national interest required closing the human rights file for good, between the leadership, the government and those affected. [1]

Another prominent member is lawyer Fareed Ghazi MP, who is also an activist with the Al Muntada liberal think tank. Fareed Ghazi has urged liberals against imposing their will on a conservative public, adding that it was not the right approach politically and morally. "We should find a common ground with the conservative element rather than just sit on a high horse and tell them that our way is the right way," he said [2].

The party's most publicised success was over the tearing down of the 'Malkiya Wall'. In March 2005, a powerful sheikh who owned shoreline property in the village Malkiya set about building a wall around land he claimed he owned, but in doing so cut off local residents from the sea. As the local MP Jassim Abdula'al was the first to oppose the wall's construction; raising the issue in parliament and speaking out in the national press. With the help of Al Wasat newspaper, Mr Abdula'al's campaign to tear down the wall was turned into a 'cause celebre', and represented the first direct example of an MP challenging the power of a leading royal. The campaign succeeded when the King backed Abdula'al and ordered the wall to be dismantled - much to the sheikh's displeasure [3]. This highly symbolic episode was considered a small but important indicator of the Gulf Kingdom's political development.