The ‘Arab Spring’ that started in Tunisia in December 2010 generated a wave of popular mobilization that materialized in very few, but significant, electoral and institutional reforms. New constitutions were adopted in Morocco and Tunisia, with the latter experiencing a complete change in the ruling regime. In the Gulf region (the six GCC states, Iran, Iraq and Yemen), the emphasis was on reform, with some steps taken to expand electorates, such as the Saudi Arabia’s decision to grant the vote to women in 2013, and the UAE decision to substantially increase its electoral college for the 2015 elections. Other states made some efforts to show transparency and competitiveness of electoral processes, such as Iran, Iraq, and Oman. However, the amplified demands of the opposition were also met with new restrictions on participation, such as the dissolution of the main Bahrain opposition society, al-Wefaq, and the exclusion of religious officials and those arrested on blasphemy and lese majeste convictions in Bahrain and Kuwait, respectively. The lack of substantial improvements in electoral frameworks, or in some cases, changes perceived as detrimental to the opposition, seem to have discouraged turnout in elections, with boycotts undertaken in Kuwait and Bahrain. Meanwhile, the lack of political agreement in Iraq, despite the reportedly clean elections of 2014, generated a political crisis that is still ongoing. On the other hand, the repression of political demonstrations after the 2009 Iranian presidential elections was not replicated in 2013, with population interest in engaging in elections recovering, at least at the presidential level.