Bahrain elects record 8 women in parliament vote

Dubai, UAE - Bahrain has elected a record eight women and many first-time lawmakers to its 40-seat parliament, according to results announced on Sunday of this week’s polls held without opposition candidates.

The official Bahrain News Agency published the list of 34 candidates who won seats in the second round of parliamentary elections on Saturday, adding to six confirmed after a first round on November 12.

Two major opposition groups, the Shiite Al-wefaq

and the secular Waad, were prevented from presenting candidates. These parties were dissolved in 2016 and 2017 respectively.

“Only the voices of the Bahraini voters are heard, and all other voices are neither heeded nor influential,” Nawaf Abdullah Hamzah, director of the election process, was quoted as saying Saturday.