Manama: The chances of Lateefa Al Gaood to become the first woman elected to parliament in the Gulf states yesterday received a major boost after her two competitors withdrew from the race.
The registration process closed late last night, but according to the electoral law, Al Gaood will have to wait for three days to see if there is valid opposition to her candidature.
Al Gaood made history in 2002 when she was the only woman to reach the run-off before narrowly losing to Islamist Shaikh Jasem Al Saeedi.
Hours before the end of the registration period, the number of candidates for the November 25 elections reached 199, including 17 women.
"The figure achieved in four days indicates a greater interest of people in running in the elections than in 2002 when 190 people contested in Bahrain's first vote in about three decades," elections spokes-person Ahdeya Ahmad yesterday told Gulf News.
Fierce contest
With the four political formations that boycotted the 2002 polls reversing their decisions and fielding candidates, the elections are set to be fiercely contested, prompting the Forum Society, a gathering of liberal businesspeople, academics and intellectuals, to announce a plan to hold five debates throughout the country.
"We want the people and potential voters to use their minds instead of their emotions before casting their ballots," Forum president Jamal Fakhro, said at a Press conference on Sunday evening.
"The themes to be debated by the candidates include politics, economy, press, civil freedoms and services."
Voting in 2002 was widely seen as decided on sectarian and family affiliations.
Meanwhile, the high elections committee said that all civil society non-political organisations could observe the elections, putting an end to a bitter row over monitoring merits and rights.
Bahrain Human Rights Society and Bahrain Transparency Society have claimed that they were better prepared to monitor the polls.