Bahrain Mirror: Former Al-Wefaq MP Ali Al-Aswad said that the attempts to overthrow Prime Minister Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa by Al-Khawalid wing last summer failed, despite some Gulf States' desire to topple him.

Al-Aswad said on his Twitter account that "Khalifa bin Salman's condition is to choose, by himself, the time to leave his post, because he and his small family (sons and grandchildren) will lose power at that time," adding that the PM "survived in the face of a harassment campaign through social media outlets, and the leakage of intentions to popularly remove him, so that he would accept the decision. All the ideas that came from Al-Khawalid wing didn't work."

The former MP indicated that "the government formation in Bahrain has been presided over by Khalifa bin Salman since 1971, without any change, as there's a decision to keep him in that position for life. The attempts to topple him last summer failed, despite some Gulf States (Saudi Arabia/United Arab Emirates) attempts to overthrow him. He, however, managed to control the situation and survived in the face of the Al-Khawalid wing project."

Al-Aswad concluded by saying that "Khalifa bin Salman is wittier than his opponents in Al-Khawalid wing (the wing controlling the military, interior ministry, intelligence and a large number of ministries) because they are rapidly working towards eliminating his political existence, and he is working on safeguarding his sons and grandchildren existence, while everyone is working on marginalizing the people excluding them from the decision-making positions in Bahrain."

King Hamad issued on Sunday (December 2, 2018) a royal decree assigning to Khalifa bin Salman the formation of the government.

Arabic Version