MANAMA // Bahrain holds legislative and municipal elections on Saturday that are being boycotted by the opposition, but the government said it was still willing to hold a dialogue to end nearly four years of political deadlock.

“The door to dialogue will never be shut, including with Al Wefaq,” the information minister Samira Rajab said, referring to the main Shiite opposition movement.

The general election will be the first since the 2011 protests, which saw Al Wefaq withdraw its 18 members of parliament after a crackdown on demonstrators by security forces.

They were later replaced in restricted polls in which the opposition refused to participate.

A national dialogue to bury political difference fell apart despite several rounds of negotiations. The opposition is demanding a constitutional monarchy with an elected prime minister who is independent from the royal family.

Al Wefaq chief Sheikh Ali Salman said on Friday that the opposition could resume talks with the government if it agreed to implement reforms in line with a strict timetable.

With the opposition boycott, turnout for the election is likely to be low and candidates from Sunni-led movements will compete with independents.

Campaigning has been subdued, even if the streets of the capital are festooned with election posters.

A rally organised by Adel Al Dhawadi, a candidate for the Islamic Forum party, outside Manama on Wednesday attracted just a few dozen supporters.

“Everyone is free to participate in elections or to boycott them. But it is better to participate and get involved in change,” said Salah Massameha, a retired academic who attended the rally.

In addition to the Islamic Forum, which is close to Egypt’s banned Muslim Brotherhood, the Salafist Al Asalah and the National Unity Assembly will field some of the 266 contenders for the 40-member parliament.

Analyst Ali Fakhro said the opposition boycott meant Bahrain’s next parliament would not offer a fair reflection of public opinion.

Candidates are mainly “businessmen and professionals who lack experience in politics” and will be unable to bridge social divides, he said.

Al Wefaq always distanced itself from the protesters clashes with security forces, saying its struggle was essentially peaceful.

Abdullah Al Hawihy, head of the central committee of the National Unity Assembly, a Sunni body created in the wake of demonstrations, said Bahrain’s protest movement showed the “Iranian agenda in the Arab region”.

“Some want to push us towards a sectarian conflict,” he added.

Mr Al Hawihy also criticised the opposition election boycott.

“Those who do not take part will lose,” he said. “It is under the dome of the parliament that we can discuss divisive issues.”

Al Wefaq was in October banned by a Bahraini court from carrying out any activities for three months for violating the law on associations.

The movement had refused to resume discussions in September despite a new proposal announced by Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa.

The proposal had five core elements, including the redefinition of electoral districts and permission for parliament to question the premier and his ministers.

* Agence France-Presse