Bahraini woman elected as second female MP

Bahraini female candidate Sawsan Taqawi on Sunday became the second female to win a parliament seat after her rival withdrew from the race in the last minute. Taqawi will join female member of parliament (MP) Latifa Al Gaoud in the parliament, which could be seen as a historic step to boost empowerment for women. The female candidate works as a media coordinator with the General Organisation for Youth and Sports and is a common face in the media circles in Bahrain. She has won her seat from the Northern Governorate Constituency 2, which covers several Shi'ite villages. It is also the largest constituency with 95,138 registered voters of the total 187,080 citizens taking part in the by-election. "I am a Shia and am proud to represent my constituency. I refused to step down despite my posters being defaced in some areas," Taqawi told Xinhua. Bahraini Justice, Islamic Affairs and Endowment Minister Sheikh Khalid bin Ali Al Khalifa told Bahrain News Agency that Taqawi was declared the winner after four male candidates contesting from the same constituency pulled out of the poll race. This is the first time since 2006 that current female MP Al Gaoud will be joined by another Bahraini woman in the House. Earlier in the day, the Information Affairs Authority said that Taqawi's election posters were defaced in several areas of her constituency, which forced her to file a complaint to the public prosecution. "The election campaign banners were repeatedly subject to deliberate defacing and damaging in such an intimidating way, ( which) gives an obviously and clear message of standing against the freedom of others' opinion and terrorizing candidates," the IAA said in a statement. Nine female candidates nominated themselves last month to contest for the by-election on Sept. 24