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The Bahrain by-elections second round are less than 48 hours away, and just in case you are not up to date on how this elections came about here is a briefing.

In 2010 a regularly scheduled elections were carried out to fill all 40 seats of the parliament, Alwefaq, the main opposition group of Shia citizens won 18 seats while the rest went to independents and other political groups of Sunni dominated citizens.

After Shia unrest broke out on February 14^th of 2011, Al Wefaq'a MP's submitted their resignations despite appeals from the government and civil organizations. More than 2 months went by before the resignations were finally accepted and a call went out to hold by-elections to fill the vacant seats, and the date was set for Saturday the 24^th of September.

Now comes the hard part, what's all the fuss is about ? Glad you asked. Al Wefaq as noted is the main opposition group and they were the driving force behind the unrest. They claim they did not instigate it, may that be, but it would not and could not have happened and be sustained without their blessings. In fact, they were calling all the shots , armed with the power of the supreme cleric Ayat Allah Isa Qassim.

Mostly Shia's (over 99.99%) occupied the GCC Roundabout which won notoriety as the Pearl Roundabout. The "protesters" had several demands of mostly better pay, jobs, stop naturalization , and so on. That lasted 3 days and the government sent troops in and cleared the roundabout. Some casualties fell, and the government was portrayed in the international media as heavy handed, oppressive regime. The government was quick to call for quiet and asked Al Wefaq to come to the table and promised that all matters of concern would be discussed.

At this point, the political adolescence of Al Wefaq started to show, and a subsequent series of fatal errors were committed by its leaders. They should have accepted the call to sit to the table and talk with King or to the Crown Prince, but instead they declined the invitation and upped the anti. Although the government allowed them to go back to the roundabout while negotiations were taking place as a goodwill gesture by the government, it was taken as a sign of weakness and a huge victory by the protesters. They now raised the stakes again and demanded the removal of the Prime Minister and going to constitutional monarchy, re-zoning of districts to go along several other demands which were all of political nature and had nothing to do with day-to-day living of the average citizen.

3 weeks went by and no political movement of any sort, so there comes a second fatal mistake and a third a and a fourth ,: they blocked major street arteries, attacked University of Bahrain and occupied the Salmaneyah Hospital. The government kept on trying to negotiate with Al-Wefaq directly or through mediators. But for the umpteenth time, Al-Wefaq did yet another major faux pas and refused to compromise. At that time the government realized the seriousness of the situation and kept handy a plan B up their sleeves. However, one final call went out to Al Wefaq to come to the table, this time with major concisions from the government, but Al Wefaq refused yet again. They had a false sense of power that assured them of overthrowing the government in just a matter of days. It was a sad case of mental masturbation went out of control. However Al Wefaq yielding to some pressure from friends, agreed to talk BUT it put a list of 12 conditions to enter into dialogue.

These conditions if met would have negated the need for any negotiations. Actually the only thing left to discuss would have been which Al Khalifa would be the last one out to turn off the lights and handover the keys.

Plan B was in full force and the government declared National Safety and a conjoined military and police forces brought back order to the country.  Needless to say, that the economy is now severely bruised and battered, and people were on edge. The government's actions came to re-assure law abiding citizens and expats that the rule of law and order is what this country is about.

Nonetheless, calls continue to go to Al Wefaq to join the national dialogue which was announced to heal the country's wounds. They graciously accepted this time due to other friendly pressures from some embassies in Bahrain BUT only to pull out after few sessions. That was another no-no. They mistakenly thought this will collapse the dialogue, but it went on and produced 291 recommendations and were sent off to the King for his approval. Implantations of these recommendations are underway as we speak.

Another error of judgment or the lack of it came in August when Al Wefaq decided to boycott the upcoming by-elections. This was the straw that broke the back of the camel of all miscalculations and mistakes. Again they thought the country will fail in its bid to have elections, little be known to them that this election will go on with or without them. They let all their ships sail by only to find themselves sitting on the docks guarding empty luggage.

4 districts have already been decided by default, leaving 14 to be decided on Saturday the 24^th of Sep. And, it was a blazing success for the government while Al Wefaq will sit it out and wait for the next 3 years before they can go back to parliament. Al Wefaq saw division within it, some on the top were for and others were against participation. The hardliners won in virtue of a directive from the supreme cleric after a divine intervention.

As it stands today, Al Wefaq has no cards to play except 2 and neither is a winner; to go back to the streets and wreak havoc or to try to find some dignified way to put them on a table with the government who at this point is no hurry whatsoever to sit with them. The government in its turn says that national dialogue already completed and that was your forum to air out your grievance, and you missed it by your own choosing.

Al Wefaq  called for major demonstrations on the 23^rd in a bid to disrupt the elections and take advantage of the many foreign correspondents covering the elections. Their fatal mistake was to send a group of some 200 men and women to demonstrate at a local mall and terrorize shoppers. By the grace of God, clashes that could have sparked an all out civil war were averted, and public security took control of the situation.  During the past 7 months media showed much compassion to Al Wefaq's cause and were very sympathetic and generous with extended coverage for such a small place. But this media has been faltering of late, and now Al Wefaq sees a golden opportunity ahead with street protests that it will hope will result in martyrs falling to give at sacrificial alter and waltz their way on the front pages of the international media.

Al Wefaq has and continued to exhibit the naïve and stubborn stance this country does not need. It should stand up and be accountable for its actions before its rank and file and the rest of the nation. So many missed opportunities from February onward had only one was capitalized upon, the entire country would have been spared all this turmoil. But alas, you are now seeing what people with limited visions can  do when they are put in control of the destiny of many.