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Manama (dpa) - Twenty-one women are expected to run in Bahrain's second parliamentary and municipal elections set to take place later this year, it was announced Monday.
The 21 female candidates will be seeking municipal and parliamentary seats, according to Supreme Council of Women (SCW) Vice Secretary General Hala Mohammed Jaber Al Ansari.
Altogether, 82 Bahraini women had undergone training under the Political Empowerment of Women Programme, she said, with 21 one of them to vie for electoral seats. The rest of the women will be involved in the female candidates' election campaigns.
Al Ansari also said that a centre to assist women candidates in their campaigns was also likely to be opened.
The Political Empowerment of Women Programme was started by the SCW last year as part of the council efforts to prepare prospective women candidates for the 2006 municipal and parliamentary elections.
A Memorandum of Understanding was signed in April 2005 between SCW Secretary General Lulwa Al Awadhi and the UN Development Fund Resident Representative, Khalid Alloush, for a series of workshops, seminars, educational programmes, support and fellowships to women in the run-up to the elections.
At the time Alloush, said the council plan for the empowerment of Bahraini women was not limited to politics and included training for leadership roles in other areas such the judiciary, law-making, the public and private sectors, economy, and education.
Shaikha Sabika bint Ibrahim Al Khalifa, wife of Bahrain's king and chairwoman of the SCW, has been seen as the driving force behind the empowerment programme.
The exclusion of women means squandering of citizens' productivity and creativity, she told last year's second meeting of the Arab Womens Organisation (AWO) in Bahrain.
When he came to power in 1999, King Sheikh Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa introduced massive political and social reforms, including the re-introduction of parliamentary system after almost three decades after Bahrain's first parliament was suspended in 1975.
Bahraini women were given the right to run for office and vote for the first time in 2002 as part of the reforms introduced.
Eight women were candidates in the 2002 elections, but none of them won. But six women, including one each of the Christian and Jewish faiths, were appointed to the Shura Council, the second chamber of the Bahraini National Assembly.
Bahrain has two female ministers in the cabinet. Dr Nada Haffadh became Bahrain's first female minister when she was appointed as Minister of Health in 2004. Dr Fatima Al Belushi was appointed in 2005 as Minister of Social Development.
Shura member Alees Samaan, the only Christian in the council, became the first woman to chair a parliamentary session in the Arab world when she chaired the Shura Council in April 2005.
More than half of the electorate in Bahrain are women, according to 2002 figures.
Copyright 2006 dpa Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH
