In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate
We, Hamed Bin Isa Al Khalifa, Amir of the State of
Bahrain
By virtue of the provisions of the National Action
Charter which endorsed overwhelmingly in referendum
by the people of Bahrain,
Having examined the Constitution,
issued by the Amiri Decree No. 17 for the year 2001 to ratify the National Action
Charter.
Since, In order to start working on the aforementioned principles in the Charter, the
existing constitution needs to be amended to fit the great objectives came in the Charter,
His Majesty the King entrusted to an advisory technical committee by the Decree No. 5
of 2001 to draft the constitutional amendments and based on the proposal of the
Chairman of the Committee to amending some provisions of the Constitution, his
Majesty the King, Issued the Constitution of the Kingdom of Bahrain for the year 2002
on 14 February 2002, and it was published in the Official Gazette Supplement No (2517)
which issued on 14 February 2002.
In 2011, the national consensus dialogue initiative originated according to the invitation
of His Majesty the King in order to achieve harmony and national reconciliation and to
reach common denominators to achieve the Bahraini people's hopes of peace and justice.
It was held from 2 – 25th July, 2011, and was attended by 330 of the different spectrums
of the Bahraini society, resulted in a "visual dialogue of national consensus," that was
formed in its final report and was submitted to His Majesty the King on 28th July 2011.
As a result, the Royal Decree No 12 for the year 2012 was issued to referral the requested
constitutional amendments that were based on the outcome of the "visual dialogue of
national consensus" to both Nuwab Council and Shura Council on 15th January 2012.
On 17th January 2012, the Council of Ministers referred to the Nuwab Council the draft
amendments of the Kingdom of Bahrain Constitution and the memorandum
explanatory, by Royal Decree No 12 for the year 2012. The Nuwab Council, in its turn,
studied the amendments and come up with the final version of the amendments and
then forwarded it to the Shura Council on 11th April 2012, which, in its turn, finished its
study on 25th April 2012, and sent to the esteemed government to take legal action to
publish it.
Consequently, on 3rd May 2012, His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa ratified the
amendments of 19 articles of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Bahrain of the year
2002, and the addition of one new article and it was published in the Official Gazette no.
(3050) on 3rd May 2012.
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