Manama: Abdul Jalil Khalil has become the second candidate to secure a seat in the lower chamber weeks before the elections will be held to choose 40 lawmakers.
Abdul Jalil, who represented Al Wefaq, Bahrain's largest society and parliamentary bloc, in the 2006-2010 lower chamber was assured of the seat after his two challengers withdrew on Friday evening, citing their non-readiness to compete against the strongly backed candidate.
His victory came one day after Latifa Al Gaood, the first woman in the Gulf to be elected to a parliament, was assured of a new term representing the sixth constituency of the Southern Governorate when no candidate challenged her bid.
Two former applicants issued a joint statement, explaining why they decided to pull out of the race against Jalil.
"When Abdul Jalil did not file his candidacy, we thought we had a chance, but now that he said that he would be running, we decided to withdraw," Ali Shamtoot and Ali Ahmad Al Moemen said.
Jalil had waited until the fourth day of the five-day registration process to file his papers.
This was amid speculation he had strong divergences with Al Wefaq over the final list of its candidates for the quadrennial elections to be held on October 23 and October 30 for the second round in constituencies where no candidate secured at least 50 per cent.
