Discovering MENA and other thoughts

On Nov. 22, Bahrain held a first round of legislative and local elections. Similar to what has happened with the majority of events that have taken place in the country throughout the last few years, few in the media refer to both the vote itself and the circumstances surrounding it. Bahrain sets itself as a privileged stage in the cold war between Iran and Saudi Arabia, and the support Gulf states have provided to the discredited monarchy just reminds us of how overlapping junctures are in this part of the world. The Bahrain vote will be the first to be held since the 2011 uprising, already discussed in  Discovering MENA . At first, the uprising did not call for the overthrow of the king, but to democratic reforms promised for years by the king himself. Reconciliation talks between the royal family –  Prince Salman bin Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa  continues to be hugely popular amongst his subjects – and the opposition were actually revived earlier this year before ...