Member State of the Arab League General elections were held in Bahrain for the first time on 12 December 1973.

[3] Two distinct political blocs amongst the elected members; the "People's Bloc" consisted of eight Shia and Sunni members elected from urban areas and associated with left-wing and nationalist organizations, including the Popular Front for the Liberation of Bahrain, the National Liberation Front – Bahrain or the Baathist movement.

[4] The elected members of the 1973 national assembly were: In 1975 the Assembly was dissolved by the then ruler Sheikh Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa because it refused to pass the government sponsored State Security Law of 1974.

Isa subsequently refused to allow the Assembly to meet again or hold elections during his lifetime.

During that period, Bahrain was run by the royally-appointed government under emergency laws.