Bahrain opposition wants real constitutional monarchy

MANAMA: Shia opposition leader Sheikh Ali Salman on Wednesday called for measures to establish a real constitutional monarchy in Bahrain with the prime minister elected rather than appointed by the king.

The Islamic National Accord Association (INAA) head said his MPs would not end a boycott of parliament until demands were met to transform Bahrain "into a constitutional monarchy where the people would be the main source of power."

"The government should be elected by the people who would have the right to hold it accountable," he told a press conference, as angry demonstrators calling for regime change occupied a Manama square for a second day.

The 18 deputies of the INAA opposition bloc walked out of Bahrain's 40-member parliament on Tuesday in protest at the killing of two Shia demonstrators in clashes with police since Monday.

To appease concerns that Bahrain's Shia majority aimed to establish an Islamic regime like in neighbouring Iran across the Gulf, Salman said there was "no place for a Vilayat-e Faqih," or supreme religious leader, in his country.

"People do not demand a religious state. They demand a civic and democratic state like in other places of the world," he said.

Salman welcomed King Hamad's address on Tuesday in which he expressed sorrow for the killing of the two demonstrators, announced a ministerial probe and pledged to press ahead with reforms launched in 2001.

But the televised speech had not addressed people's demands "for political reforms concerning the transfer of power," the INAA chief said.

A 2001 referendum transformed Bahrain from an emirate into a constitutional monarchy and led to elections in 2002 for the first time since parliament was scrapped in 1975.