Unconventionally, the King of Bahrain recently issued a decree to shake up the cabinet ahead of the parliamentary and municipal elections set to be held in November. This comes as laws continue to bar thousands of Bahrainis from fully participating in polls, and while the Constitution stipulates that governments must be formed “at the beginning of each legislative term.”

Changes to ministries

The decree outlines the replacement of 13 ministers and a deputy prime minister, some of whom held cabinet positions since the country’s independence in 1971. The government is now among the least reliant on members of the royal family, includes an unprecedented four women ministers and grants Shiites nine ministerial portfolios...