First Bahraini female candidate begins campaigning

East Riffa, Bahrain (dpa) - The first of more than 20 female candidates expected to run in Bahrain's November parliamentary and municipal elections launched her campaign with a seminar on the role of local press and its relation to parliament.

Fawzia Zainal, who will be running as an independent for a parliamentary seat in the Central Governorate district, is the first candidate to actively campaign since November 25 was announced as the polling date.

Just hours prior to Thursday night's seminar Bahrain's largest Shiite political grouping, the al-Wefaq Islamic Society, had said it backed rival Munira Fakhro from the National Democratic Action Society known as Waad (Promise). Fakhro is the only female candidate so far to have secured the support of al-Wefaq, which aims to take half of all seats in the Bahrain parliament.

Zainal's seminar, held south of the Bahraini capital Manama in the town of East Riffa, attracted strong attention as two key editors of independent dailies spoke about press restrictions and media- parliament relations.

Mansoor al-Jamri, who heads the country's largest independent daily al-Wasat, criticized "restrictive" press laws, saying that key officials had been promising change since 2002. Such laws if fully implemented would see "90 per cent of journalists behind bars," he claimed.

"We might be a 'fourth authority' but we are a subjugated one," said the journalist referring to the Bahraini press.

Additionally, he said, MPs were able "to harness and use the media to their advantage," while lawmakers "were used by the media to fill pages." He also lashed out at government funding provided to some newspapers, saying it hinders the development of the press.

Ebrahim Bashmi, who heads the newest of the independent dailies al-Waqt, also criticized MPs for changing their attitudes towards the media before and after elections.

Restrictive press laws were promoted by lawmakers to prevent criticism of their polices, groups, and themselves, he said. Bashmi criticized MPs for having "killed" a proposed progressive media law that had been supported by the press and by society.

Lawmakers "did not understand that if the press cannot protect the rights of the people and express their views it would not survive, and would not be able to help the people or them."

Both editors came out in support of women's rights, especially their right to run in elections.

Bahraini columnist Abdullah al-Abassai however criticized the editors accusing them of censoring reporters before the government does.

Rola Dashti, who ran in Kuwait's parliamentary elections in June and is in Bahrain to share her experience with female candidates, extended her support to the Bahraini women standing for public office.

"I hope that Bahraini women get elected in the next parliamentary elections because it establishes the grounds for a firm democracy," said the 42-year-old economist, who campaigned for more than a decade to secure female suffrage rights in Kuwait.

Dashti also expressed faith that Kuwaiti women would be elected in the next parliamentary elections and confirmed that she would again stand as a candidate.

"We will make it God willing, because it is a cornerstone for moving forward," she said. "The presence of women in the next parliament is something central."

The November elections will be the second time that Bahrainis will be able to vote to elect fully representative municipal councils, and half of the 80 National Assembly members.

The first parliamentary elections in 2002, which came after more than three decades of disbanding the Bahraini parliament, were boycotted by four of the opposition groups that refused to recognize the new constitution.

Bahraini women, who secured suffrage rights in the last elections, voted in large numbers, but none of the female candidates were elected.

Copyright 2006 dpa Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH