Khalifa bin Ahmed Al Dhahrani ( ar, خليفة بن أحمد الظهراني, born 1942) is a Bahraini

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

, who served as

Speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** I ...

of the

Council of Representatives of Bahrain The Council of Representatives (''Majlis an-nuwab''), sometimes translated as the "Chamber of Deputies", is the name given to the lower house of the Bahraini National Assembly, the national legislative body of Bahrain. The council was created ...

Early life

Khalifa Al Dhahrani was born in the town of

Riffa Riffa ( ar, الرفاع, ) is the second largest city in the Kingdom of Bahrain by area size. Riffa is divided into three parts: , and . The city is completely located in the Southern Governorate. The city is growing fast: during the 2001 cen ...

, in central

Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...

, in 1942. He graduated from

Bahrain Petroleum Company The Bahrain Petroleum Company (BAPCO) is an integrated national oil company of Bahrain. History The BAPCO was established in 1929 in Canada by Standard Oil Company of California for oil exploration activities in Bahrain. It took over Bahra ...

's Institute of Training and Occupational Development. Prior to his political career, he was a prominent businessman in the Bahraini community.

Political career

Al Dhahrani's political career began when he ran for and was elected as a member of Bahrain's first National Assembly in 1973. At age 31, he ran in the 20th constituency, at the time encompassing

, Jaww, Askar and

Zallaq Zallaq ( ar, الزلاق) is a village on the western coast of Bahrain. Zallaq was the home to the Al-Dawasir, Al-Zeabi and Al-Gahtam and Al-Seddiqi tribes in Bahrain together with Budaiya and Hawar Islands. It is famous for the ''Jazaer Beach'' ...

. He served as MP until 1975, when the

emir of Bahrain The King of the Kingdom of Bahrain ( ar, ملك مملكة البحرين) is the monarch and head of state of Bahrain. The House of Khalifa has been the ruling family since 1783. Between 1783 and 1971, the Bahraini monarch held the title of ha ...

Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa (; 3 June 1931 – 6 March 1999) was the first emir of Bahrain from 1961 until his death in 1999. Born in Jasra, Bahrain, he became emir upon the death of his father, Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa. Early life and reign ...

dissolved parliament. Al Dhahrani was later appointed to the Shura Council in 1992 and served there until 2002. He was one of the architects who drew up the National Action Charter of Bahrain in 2001, which led to the end of

political unrest Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...

that plagued the country in the 1990s.

2002 election

Al Dhahrani served in the Shura Council until 2002, when a royal decree dissolved the council. Al Dhahrani later planned to run for MP in the newly formed lower house of parliament. Al Dhahrani ran as a candidate in the ninth district of the Central Governorate and was elected to parliament, having secured a

landslide victory A landslide victory is an election result in which the victorious candidate or party wins by an overwhelming margin. The term became popular in the 1800s to describe a victory in which the opposition is "buried", similar to the way in which a geol ...

, after winning 90% of the vote. Within the council, he was elected as Speaker of parliament.

2006 election

Al Dhahrani was re-elected in the 2006 Bahraini general election, retaining his constituency. He was also re-elected as Speaker. Al Dhahrani retained his post after Islamist party

Al Wefaq Al-Wefaq National Islamic Society ( ar, جمعية الوفاق الوطني الإسلامية; ), sometimes shortened to simply Al-Wefaq, was a Shi'a Bahraini political party, that operates clandestinely after being ordered by the highest co ...

's leader

Ali Salman Ali Salman Ahmed Salman ( ar, علي سلمان أحمد سلمان) is a Bahraini Twelver Shi'a cleric and the Secretary-General of the Al-Wefaq political society. In January 1995, the Bahraini government forcibly exiled him to Dubai for leadi ...

indicated that he wanted to secure the post.
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2010 election

For the third time, Al Dhahrani was re-elected in the 2010 Bahraini general election in the same constituency and was also re-elected as Speaker for the third time.

2011 National Dialogue

In the aftermath of the 2011 unrest in Bahrain, the King of Bahrain,

Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa Hamad bin Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa ( ar, حمد بن عيسى بن سلمان آل خليفة '; 28 January 1950) is King of Bahrain since 14 February 2002, after ruling as Emir of Bahrain from 6 March 1999. He is the son of Isa bin Salman ...

ordered the formation of a national dialogue, which was to be headed by Al Dhahrani.

References

Speakers of the Council of Representatives (Bahrain) Members of the National Assembly (Bahrain) Bahraini Islamists Sunni Islamists Living people Bahraini Sunni Muslims 1942 births {{Bahrain-politician-stub