Eighty-three candidates are to contest Bahrain’s September 24 by-elections that are being boycotted by the Shiite opposition which quit Parliament in protest at the suppression of pro-democracy protests.

Six women figure among the candidates in the Shiite-majority constituencies which have 180,000 eligible voters, the BNA state news agency said yesterday.

The partial polls is being held to replace 18 MPs of the main Shiite opposition formation, Al-Wefaq, which controlled the largest bloc in the 40-members lower chamber.

Its MPs walked out after Bahraini security forces used force against protests led by the Shiite majority demanding democratic reforms in February.

Bahraini authorities later allowed protesters to camp out at Manama’s central Pearl Square until security forces, boosted by a Saudi-led Gulf regiment, drove them out in a deadly crackdown in mid-March.

“There are no significant figures among the candidates,” said a resigned Al-Wefaq MP, Khalil Marzouq, predicting that “people will boycott the polls.”

“The coming Parliament will not really represent the people,” he added.

Al-Wefaq also disputes the legitimacy of the upper house of Parliament, whose 40 members are appointed rather than elected and which can block initiatives of the lower house.

It has also rejected the outcome of a national dialogue held in July at the initiative of the King to relaunch a process of political reform in Bahrain, which is ruled by the Sunni Al-Khalifa dynasty.

Despite the clampdown on Shiite activists, the opposition has stuck to its demand for a full fledged constitutional monarchy with an elected government and powerful Parliament.