The Associated Press
Published: October 17, 2006
MANAMA, Bahrain A woman will serve as an elected representative in Bahrain’s parliament for the first time in the Gulf kingdom’s history, election authorities announced Tuesday.
Lateefa al-Geood has effectively won a seat in parliament, because she was the only candidate who registered to run in her region, Bahrain’s official news agency reported. The registration period for candidates ended late Monday.
Parliamentary elections are scheduled for Nov. 25. Some 221 candidates, including 18 women, are vying for seats in the 40-member assembly.
The Associated Press
Published: October 17, 2006
MANAMA, Bahrain A woman will serve as an elected representative in Bahrain’s parliament for the first time in the Gulf kingdom’s history, election authorities announced Tuesday.
Lateefa al-Geood has effectively won a seat in parliament, because she was the only candidate who registered to run in her region, Bahrain’s official news agency reported. The registration period for candidates ended late Monday.
Parliamentary elections are scheduled for Nov. 25. Some 221 candidates, including 18 women, are vying for seats in the 40-member assembly.
“I am very proud as a Bahraini woman to reach this point, and I hope more than one female candidate reaches the parliament. They have the qualifications and the charisma,” al-Geood told The Associated Press on Tuesday.
Thirty-one women ran in municipal and parliamentary elections in 2002, but failed to win a single seat. Bahraini women won the right to vote just a year earlier, as part of a national referendum that turned the small Gulf state into a constitutional monarchy.
“I hope all Gulf states take Bahrain’s example in giving women political rights and the right to participate in political activities,” she said.
Six women already serve in Bahrain’s upper chamber of parliament, but they were appointed, not elected. Under Bahraini law, Al-Geood’s uncontested candidacy amounts to an electoral victory, and makes her the first female elected representative.
Al-Geood holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Helwan University in Egypt, and a master’s degree in financial management from the University of Nottingham, England. She currently works in Bahrain’s Ministry of Finance, as the head of the human resources department.
“I’m planning to work on issues related to the economy, unemployment and discrimination against women in the management field,” she said Tuesday.
Mariam Janahi, head of the women’s empowerment program in the Women’s Supreme Council, a government group led by the Bahraini king’s wife, called al-Geood’s candidacy “an indication that Bahraini society accepts women’s role in politics.”
“This is a very progressive step for Bahrain, and we hope several women will win seats in the new parliamentary and municipal elections,” she said.
Al-Geood will represent an area that includes the uninhabited island of Hawar, in southern Bahrain.
Analysts said her uncontested victory was a government tactic to appease other female candidates, who were unlikely to win their seats.
“Her victory was been pre-planned by the authorities to secure a place for women who were destined to lose in the election. It is a symbolic and insignificant victory in a constituency which is virtually empty,” said Mohammed al-Othman, a columnist for the independent Al-Wasat daily.
Al-Geood ran for parliament in 2002, and made a strong showing but was defeated by an Islamist candidate whose camp dominates the outgoing chamber.
A Sunni Muslim, al-Geood wears a traditional Bahraini abaya — a black silk cloak that covers her head and shoulders.
“My family and friends know me like this (wearing a traditional abaya), and I’ll keep it on because I’m proud to wear it. This abaya is a Bahraini symbol and something to be proud of for a woman inside parliament,” she said.
(str-lf)
MANAMA, Bahrain A woman will serve as an elected representative in Bahrain’s parliament for the first time in the Gulf kingdom’s history, election authorities announced Tuesday.
Lateefa al-Geood has effectively won a seat in parliament, because she was the only candidate who registered to run in her region, Bahrain’s official news agency reported. The registration period for candidates ended late Monday.
Parliamentary elections are scheduled for Nov. 25. Some 221 candidates, including 18 women, are vying for seats in the 40-member assembly.
“I am very proud as a Bahraini woman to reach this point, and I hope more than one female candidate reaches the parliament. They have the qualifications and the charisma,” al-Geood told The Associated Press on Tuesday.
Thirty-one women ran in municipal and parliamentary elections in 2002, but failed to win a single seat. Bahraini women won the right to vote just a year earlier, as part of a national referendum that turned the small Gulf state into a constitutional monarchy.
“I hope all Gulf states take Bahrain’s example in giving women political rights and the right to participate in political activities,” she said.
Six women already serve in Bahrain’s upper chamber of parliament, but they were appointed, not elected. Under Bahraini law, Al-Geood’s uncontested candidacy amounts to an electoral victory, and makes her the first female elected representative.
Al-Geood holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Helwan University in Egypt, and a master’s degree in financial management from the University of Nottingham, England. She currently works in Bahrain’s Ministry of Finance, as the head of the human resources department.
“I’m planning to work on issues related to the economy, unemployment and discrimination against women in the management field,” she said Tuesday.
Mariam Janahi, head of the women’s empowerment program in the Women’s Supreme Council, a government group led by the Bahraini king’s wife, called al-Geood’s candidacy “an indication that Bahraini society accepts women’s role in politics.”
“This is a very progressive step for Bahrain, and we hope several women will win seats in the new parliamentary and municipal elections,” she said.
Al-Geood will represent an area that includes the uninhabited island of Hawar, in southern Bahrain.
Analysts said her uncontested victory was a government tactic to appease other female candidates, who were unlikely to win their seats.
“Her victory was been pre-planned by the authorities to secure a place for women who were destined to lose in the election. It is a symbolic and insignificant victory in a constituency which is virtually empty,” said Mohammed al-Othman, a columnist for the independent Al-Wasat daily.
Al-Geood ran for parliament in 2002, and made a strong showing but was defeated by an Islamist candidate whose camp dominates the outgoing chamber.
A Sunni Muslim, al-Geood wears a traditional Bahraini abaya — a black silk cloak that covers her head and shoulders.
“My family and friends know me like this (wearing a traditional abaya), and I’ll keep it on because I’m proud to wear it. This abaya is a Bahraini symbol and something to be proud of for a woman inside parliament,” she said.
(str-lf)
