The end of the beginning as Bahrain goes to the polls

Later this month, Bahrain will enter a new era with its first parliamentary elections since 1973. Edmund O'Sullivan and Tom Everett-Heath examine the prospects for the island kingdom and interview Bahrain's Crown Prince Shaikh Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa At dawn on 24 October, for the first time in a generation, the polling booths will open in Bahrain for parliamentary elections. When they close, the Gulf's first constitutional monarchy will have become a practical reality. It may have taken longer than some might have hoped, but the political reforms are irrevocable. Says Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa: "The parliamentary initiative has already succeeded. It is an irreversible process."