Manama: Journalists in Bahrain will elect a new board for the Bahrain Journalists Association (BJA) next month after three of the nine members left.
The snap elections will be an opportunity to reunify the association following the fissures that appeared during the period of the unrest that hit Bahrain last year.
"We will hold the elections on May 3 as journalists celebrate the World press Freedom Day," said Eisa Al Shayji, chairman of the association.
"We urge all colleagues to take an active role during these critical times to empower the association to move ahead and help reunite all media people. The association will also lobby for the promulgation of the new press law," said Al Shayji, who did not say whether he would be seeking a new term at the helm of the association founded in 2001 as an umbrella for all Bahrain-based journalists, regardless of their nationalities.
In the first years of the association, the presence of editors-in-chief on the board was among the most debated controversies, but the issue was eventually settled.
The last elections were held in June last year, resulting in two women, Ahdeya Ahmad and Samah Allam, elected to the board.
