DUBAI: A Bahraini woman has become the second woman ever to win a spot in the country's lower chamber of parliament after she was declared the winner of a planned September 24 run-off when her four opponents pulled out of the election.
Sawsan al-Taqawi said that she would not be deterred by the smear campaign against her and added that she would remain on course in her duties as a member of parliament.
'Following the decisions of the candidates Ahmad Salem Al Sherooqi, Nabeel Ali Al Lababidi, Yusuf Abdul Rahim Janahi and Abdul Salam Al Mannai to withdraw from the race, I declare Sawsan Hajji Ghuloom Taqawi, the only candidate remaining in the race, as the winner of the Second Constituency of the Northern Governorate,' said Justine Minister Shaikh Khalid.
'I have been under tremendous pressure to withdraw my candidacy, and now my posters and billboards are being defaced,' she said. 'It is a clear message that I should withdraw, but I am moving on. I am writing a letter to the head of the elections committee to detail how I have been targeted,' she said.
She would not say who was behind the campaign to force her out of the race.
Bahrain is scheduled to hold the legislative by-elections in two weeks to elect the 18 lawmakers, who will replace the former representatives of the al-Wafaq society who pulled out of the lower chamber of parliament in February in protest against the way the government dealt with protestors in February.
Since the first parliamentary elections held in 2002 following a three-decade constitutional hiatus, only one woman, Lateefa al-Gaood, won in 2006 after running unchallenged in her constituency in the Southern Governorate.
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