By Elizabeth Kelleher
Washington File Staff Writer
(file photo AP Images)Washington – Bahrain’s second parliamentary elections in almost three decades are coming up, and U.S. official Karen Hughes is celebrating the inevitability of a milestone: the first woman parliamentarian in the Gulf region.
Hughes, the State Department’s under secretary for public diplomacy and public affairs, spoke to reporters in Manama, Bahrain, on November 1. She applauded the fact that 18 women are running for election to parliament and that one is unopposed, guaranteeing a win.
Before the question-and-answer session with reporters, Hughes had lunch with some of the women candidates. One talked to Hughes about how hard she is working and how difficult campaigning can be.
By Elizabeth Kelleher
Washington File Staff Writer
(file photo AP Images)Washington – Bahrain’s second parliamentary elections in almost three decades are coming up, and U.S. official Karen Hughes is celebrating the inevitability of a milestone: the first woman parliamentarian in the Gulf region.
Hughes, the State Department’s under secretary for public diplomacy and public affairs, spoke to reporters in Manama, Bahrain, on November 1. She applauded the fact that 18 women are running for election to parliament and that one is unopposed, guaranteeing a win.
Before the question-and-answer session with reporters, Hughes had lunch with some of the women candidates. One talked to Hughes about how hard she is working and how difficult campaigning can be.
“I know,” Hughes said, “I worked in both [President George W. Bush’s] campaigns for governor of Texas and in his campaign for president, so I had an opportunity to discuss that with them.”
Hughes expressed approval of the fact that Bahrain’s 2006 election season is “more inclusive.” In 2002, King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifah announced a reconstitution of a bicameral parliament, with a representative lower house. The first parliamentary elections in decades were held in October 2002. There was strong participation by female voters, but none of the female candidates won a seat.
Hughes said this is not unusual. “The next time, more women run, and they learn from the first campaigns.”
She said Bahrain, which soon will gain status as the first country in the Gulf to have a woman parliamentarian, is a “healthy model for the region.”
“Statistics show that, as you educate and empower women, almost every other aspect of a society improves — from its economic prosperity to its health to its general welfare,” she said.
Hughes said of the women candidates she met: “They are articulate. They are intelligent. They are very impressive.” She also praised the self-confidence of young women at Al-Noor High School, with whom she had spoken earlier in the day and said she was impressed by the business and government leaders she dined with October 31.
“I feel very good about the future of Bahrain,” she said.
While answering questions about whether she had raised the issue of election observers with Bahraini officials, Hughes said the United States favors observers. “We think it’s important not only that [elections] be free and fair, but that the public is satisfied that they are free and fair,” she said.
For information about Hughes’ stop in the United Arab Emirates, see related article.
For additional information about U.S. policy, see Women in the Global Community.
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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