The Kingdom of Bahrain on Thursday issued directives to make necessary constitutional changes in line with the outcome of the National Consensus Dialogue deliberations held last month.
“Work on drafting proposed constitutional amendments has been given the go-ahead on Thursday. A Government committee in charge of following-up the National Consensus Dialogue visions gave the green light for the drafting to proceed,” a statement posted by the BNA on its website said.
Deputy Premier Shaikh Mohammed bin Mubarak Al-Khalifa chaired the key meeting. The panel discussed the viewpoints, in general, and issued directives to start work on required constitutional amendments. The session referred the amendments to the Constitutional Drafting Committee, chaired by Justice, Islamic Affairs and Endowment Minister Shaikh Khalid bin Ali Al-Khalifa. The panel reviewed the views yielded by the National Consensus Dialogue regarding the political, economic, social and legal themes. These require administrative procedures, yet to be undertaken by the executive authority within a limited timeframe. The ministers outlined their viewpoints and proposed setting up taskforces in each respective ministry.
Deputy Premier Shaikh Mohammed bin Mubarak Al-Khalifa gave directives to quickly issue the legal and constitutional tools towards promoting Bahrain’s democratic system. He also reaffirmed the Government’s firm resolve to remove all obstacles and impediments towards meeting the aspirations of the popular will by promoting Bahrain’s political and democratic achievements. He also stressed the importance of projecting the achievements to the local and international opinions and preserve Bahrain’s reputation.
Political analysts termed the transparency and commitment at the Government level to implement the recommendations of the national dialogue as an unprecedented and truly reflective of the mature democracy. This move, according to them, will further strengthen Bahrain’s democracy and constitutional institutions and nullify the claims of rogue elements who want to harm the democracy.