Bahrain gets first woman MP
From correspondents in Manama
17oct06
A WOMAN won a seat in Bahrain’s parliament for the first time as registration for November 25 polls ended today without a contest in her constituency, an official said.
“Only Latifa al-Qouood remained as a candidate in the seventh constituency, making her a winner by law,” said Ahdeyah Ahmed, spokeswoman of the election high committee.
Ms Qouood had reached the second round in Bahrain’s last legislative polls, but was eventually beaten by an Islamist candidate whose camp dominates the outgoing chamber.
Some 199 candidates, including 16 women, have registered for next month’s polls to the 40-member assembly.
Bahrain gets first woman MP
From correspondents in Manama
17oct06
A WOMAN won a seat in Bahrain’s parliament for the first time as registration for November 25 polls ended today without a contest in her constituency, an official said.
“Only Latifa al-Qouood remained as a candidate in the seventh constituency, making her a winner by law,” said Ahdeyah Ahmed, spokeswoman of the election high committee.
Ms Qouood had reached the second round in Bahrain’s last legislative polls, but was eventually beaten by an Islamist candidate whose camp dominates the outgoing chamber.
Some 199 candidates, including 16 women, have registered for next month’s polls to the 40-member assembly.
Bahraini women were given the vote for the first time in a 2001 referendum which turned the small Gulf archipelago into a constitutional monarchy.
Thirty-one women stood as candidates in municipal and parliamentary elections the following year but without winning a seat.
