administrative corruption and discriminatory practices. Participation in The National Council 2002 elections boycott Al Wefaq boycotted the 2002 general election, the first parliamentary elections held in the country since 1973, for many reasons including : that the 2002 constitution came with sole discretion of King Hamad where he made major changes to the constitution of 1973 without voting on it by Bahraini citizens. the unelected upper house, the Consultative Council of Bahrain, has been given similar powers to the elected Parliament Council although its members are directly appointed by the King. Unfair distribution of population among Electoral district by which in some cases the vote of one citizen in an Electoral district is equal to the vote of 16 citizen in another district. 2006 elections Al Wefaq announced that it would reverse its elections boycott and participate in the 2006 parliamentary election. The party hoped to win 12–14 seats in the poll to take place in November 2006. The party has denied that it will not field any women candidates, dismissing the allegations as "pure speculation". Along with Salafists, such as Ali Mattar, the party objects to the government's ban on candidates using religious sermons to promote their election campaigns. A noted religious figure from Al Wefaq, Jassim Al Khayat, has commented: "The ban is senseless because the mosque, as an integral part of people's daily lives, has always been close to the political scene." Salafist MP Jassim Al Saeedi campaigned to get the party banned from standing in the poll on the grounds that the party did not recognize the 2002 Constitution. When his demands were rejected by the government, Mr Saeedi accused the Minister of Justice, Dr Mohammed Al Sitri, of being the party's 'front man' and acting as their 'lawyer'. Mr Saeedi told Dr Al Sitri during a session of parliament: "It seems they chose you to be their front man, because you are defending them well." The parliamentary election campaigns of Al Wefaq members put many of the current hot issues in the political scene to the surface. For example, Al Wefaq extensively used the Bandargate scandal in its campaigns and promised to question and punish those responsible for it. Moreover, Al Wefaq raised serious concerns over the election results and questioned many aspects of the election process. Indeed, accusations of fraud as well as the lack of transparency were raised shortly before the start of