Voice of a common man

There are thirty women candidates expected who would be fighting for the elections and eighty percent of them would contest for the parliament. The Wa’ad National Democartic Action Society and the National Unity bloc are the only two societies that have backed women candidates- Dr.Munira Fakhro and Shahzaleen Khamees.

Both the candidates filed their papers on the first day of their registration and looked relaxed and confident. Tribune had earlier spoken with Shahzaleen Khamees at the time of the announcement of the candidate list of the National Unity Bloc.
Creating a link between education and employment, working for better retirement funds and housing are the issues that Dr.Munira Fakhro will focus if she makes it to the parliament.

The women candidate from the Wa’ad National Democratic Action Society has a strong following among the womenfolk in Isa Town District-4 where she would be contesting. “ I am in the final process of reviewing my election agenda that will focus on issues like education, health, constitutional reforms, corruption and housing. One of the main problems in my constituency is housing, as there are many families who are waiting to be allocated housing units by the government. There is no shortage of houses in the kingdom, it is only the administration work that needs to speed up and the citizens do not have to wait for years. Another area that I would be emphasizing on is the budget. The budget should be monitored and we would like to scrutinize every item so that there is transparency in the allocation of funds for education, health services etc.”

According to the figures of the employment exchange in Bahrain about 13,000 are registered and out of then 75 percent are women. “ If I make it to the parliament, I would be in the committee for education and would work for unemployment. Education needs to be amended according to the needs of the labour market and this would result in creating better job opportunities. “

The politician also expressed her concern on political naturalization and said that she did not support the recent decision that naturalized people can vote in the elections. “ This is a violation of the 1963 naturalisation law which says that any person naturalized can vote only after the completion of ten years which does not hold true this year. The executive powers have a control in the judicial system and there should be freedom of press and expression in the kingdom that we would work. This was witnessed recently when the local press was stopped from publishing anything about a report that created a stir in the political scene in the kingdom. “

Speaking about the family law, Dr.Fakhro said, “I have been working to implement a family law in the kingdom that will not discriminate women. It was a simple issue that was discussed in the parliament but turned into a political issue. We were thousand demonstrators facing 14,000 Shia leaders. The clergy Shia leaders opposed the proposed law and we are still fighting for a family law to be implemented in the kingdom. We also had to fight it out for the property ownership law that protects the interest of women. In case, a women is a widow or her husband throws her out she has a right to own the property of her husband according to this law. There should be more laws be introduced that will help protect women rights and will make them secure about the future.
When asked about the challenges faced, the candidate from Wa’ad replied,” There needs to be reforms in the women rights to make them aware of their role in the society. Arab women around the world have to fight for their rights and prove themselves to the world. In schools or universities, women perform better than men and are still underrated. This attitude will change in the coming years as a revolution is slowly developing in the Middle East that is being witnessed by many who will gradually change their outlook toward women.”

Earlier, the general secretary of the Al-Wefaq National Islamic Society Sheikh Ali Salman said in a press conference that their party would support Dr. Fakhro. “ I welcome the decision from our friends and will work together for the welfare of the people. This time the new parliament will have new faces and will work for bringing democracy in the House ”