Manama: Just weeks after Islamists were left to lick their wounds in Tunisia’s elections, Islamists in Bahrain have suffered their worst defeat in parliamentary polls since 2002.

The announcement of the final results late on Saturday showed that Bahrainis have dramatically fallen out of love with Islamist societies that once dominated the parliament.

In the 2006-2010 legislative term, three Islamist societies held 32 of the 40 seats in the lower chamber of the bicameral parliament.

Al Wefaq, the largest society, had 17 lawmakers, all Shiite men, while the other two Sunni societies, Al Asala, with its Salafi ideology, had eight and the Islamic Minbar had seven.

However, in 2014, Al Wefaq boycotted the elections and did not field any candidates. Al Asala won only two seats and Al Minbar obtained only one seat. Neither of the two societies presented female candidates.

“We are truly happy with the results because Bahrainis want tangible achievements that help improve their living and working conditions,” Jaber Mohammad, a Bahraini analyst, said. “Voters did not want lawmakers who put ideology ahead of better living conditions. They decided to punish the Islamists and all societies by voting in young, independent people. The new lawmakers lack experience, but they seem to have the will and determination to genuinely serve the country and the people, not their political or religious affiliations,” he said.

The dismal performance by religious societies extended to independent Islamists who could not in the cases of Jasem Al Saeedi and Mohammad Bu Qais move past the first round.

Even if they included lawmakers with clear religious orientations, be they Sunnis or Shiites, the Islamists in the 2014-2018 legislative term are not likely to form a parliamentary bloc of more than eight members.

“The ascendance of young, pro-business and pro-civil society lawmakers is very clear and MPs with religious ideologies will remain a largely outnumbered minority,” Jaber said. “We are now looking at the end of an era when Islamists dominated throughout most of the Arab world. People are fed up with dramatic situations that lacked stability and security and they are alarmingly concerned that infusing religious ideologies in politics is taking them towards an abyss,” he said.