Secretary-General Hassan Madan Founded 2001 Student wing Student Union Bloc | Founder Ahmad Al-Thawadi Headquarters Manama, Bahrain | |
Preceded by National Liberation Front – Bahrain | ||
Progressive Democratic Tribune (Arabic: جمعية المنبر الديمقراطي التقدمي, jam'iyyat al-minbar ad-dimuqrati at-taqadummi, often referred to as al-Minbar) is a political outfit launched by returning exiles from the underground communist National Liberation Front - Bahrain in 2001. The group won three seats in the Bahraini parliament in the 2002 elections. Ahmad Al-Thawadi was the founding chairman of al-Minbar. Effectively al-Minbar came to act as a successor to the NLF.
The party has been opposed to sectarian politics and sought to represent constituents whatever their creed. It was also a consistent champion of women's rights and freedom of speech, meaning that its MPs often found themselves allied with liberals. One of its three MPs, Abdulhadi Marhoon, served as the Deputy Speaker from 2002-2006.
Al-Minbar also has a youth organization, Shabeeba Society of Bahrain, that is active among the students and young workers with a network of regional and international connections with other left wing democratic youth organizations.
2006 elections
Ahead of the 2006 elections al-Minbar launched the electoral bloc 'National Unity'. The bloc had 9 candidates, out of whom 5 were members of al-Minbar. None of its candidates were elected.