Winning more democratic space

Bahraini women celebrate today their success in reaching the highest influential positions in their beloved country, as this year’s theme for the Bahrain Women’s Day is ‘Women in the Legislative Authority and Municipal Councils’. And as we celebrate this success since the reform process in 2002, we also look forward to what will happen in the polling centres today as voters head for the second round to vote for the 31 other members who will occupy seats in the upcoming parliament.

We also celebrate the fact that two women have already reached the 2018-2022 parliament and what we do know now is that more women will occupy the parliament's seats compared to 2014 elections. In 2014, three women won. This year two have already won in the first round last week and for the first time in Bahrain’s history, two women compete against each other in the same constituency which guarantees that three women will at least serve the 2018 parliament. But our expectations and through an in-depth analysis of the female candidates’ qualifications and numbers of the vote they got in the first round, we can clearly see that more than three will certainly occupy those seats. Nine women are among the 64 candidates competing today and their chances of winning are very high.

I personally have never felt so proud of this accomplishment and it simply reflects women’s confidence that has been built over the past decades in their ability to practise their political rights especially when they were granted the right of candidacy and voting by HM the King in 2002. It also certainly reflects the state's approach towards change, the political empowerment of women that contribute to political, economic and social growth of any nation. And if we look back at the past decade, we also see that the state has dealt with the voices that were raised against women, the preaching at religious sites and male candidates’ tents that targeted women and prohibited the society from voting for a female candidate.

We also see our country fight extremist voices and this war against extremism has allowed Bahraini women from the two different sects and walks of life to reach the parliament. Another issue we also need to have a closer look at was forbidding the defamation of any candidate’s image and targeting them during the elections. Many women refused competition for years out of the fear of having their image ruined by those who have certain agendas aimed at politically disabling women. But that has all come to an end. No one has preached that women shouldn’t be voted for.

No one has dared to ruin the democratisation process of our beloved country and no one came close to succeeding in discouraging people to vote. In simple words, we made it last week and we will continue to fight against those who attempt to deprive us of our political rights. As the doors of the polling centres close at 8 pm tonight, I’m sure I’ll be one of the women celebrating the success of more women winning more seats in the upcoming parliament. I have always been an advocate for voting for the right person, regardless of gender but what we see this year is a huge list of capable female candidates. We can hope that all of them would make it because more than being women they are candidates who deserve to win.