Sunday, November 26, 2006

There Goes the Neighbourhood


And they had money and everything! Islamist candidates swept into office in the latest runoff in Bahrain, the super-rich island state in the Gulf. That spells trouble for the ruling Sunnis in a nation in which two-thirds of the people are Shia. Oh, oh.

Other candidates, women and secular liberals, got thrashed. One woman got elected and no libs although there are four libs still awaiting runoff votes. The voter turnout was 72%.

According to The Guardian: ``It looks like our parliament will be dominated by people who see themselves only as Sunnis or Shiites,'' said Fowad Shihab, a political science professor at Bahrain University. ``These are the same Islamists that are gaining control across the Arab world.''

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