WUNRN
More women running for public
office, but challenges remain.
|
Latifa
Al Gaoud, the first woman to make it to parliament in 2006, was re-elected
again this year - but ran unopposed both times. However,
Dr Munira Fakhro - who was hoping to become only the second woman in
parliament - narrowly missed out yesterday after losing to independent
candidate Isa Ali Al Qadhi. Neither
she nor fellow National Democratic Action Society (Waad) candidate Ebrahim
Sharif made it through the second round - meaning the leftist opposition
group again misses out on a place in parliament. Meanwhile,
Sabah Al Dossary - another woman hoping to make it onto the Muharraq
Municipal Council - failed in her election bid. Nine
seats in parliament and 16 on municipal councils were decided in yesterday's
second round of elections, with vote counting continuing late into the night. Among
those holding his breath was Sharkh Al Dossary, who polled 783 votes despite
asking supporters not to vote for him because he wanted to withdraw from the
parliament race. Former
Muharraq Municipal Council chairman Mohammed Hammada was among the
high-profile losers in the second round. |