33 women elected
Sanaa, 26 Sept. (AKI) - Thirty-three women were elected in the recent administrative elections in Yemen held on 20 September, which also saw the victory of the incumbent president Ali Abdullah Saleh. The electoral commission in the capital Sanaa, said that six women, all from the ruling General Peoples’ Congress Party were elected to the provincial councils, while another 27 women were elected to the city councils. Out of this group, 24 women are from the governing party while another two ran as independent candidates and one woman was elected from the Socialist party.
The Islamic party, al-Islah, did not field a single female candidate because religious leaders in the country had not made a decision on whether to issue a fatwa or religious decree allowing for women to participate in politics.
The election of 33 women was warmly welcomed by the government in Sanaa and by women’s groups, especially since only one woman was elected in the last administrative elections in 2001.
