Elections

The two prominent conservative candidates -- the incumbent president and a former Revolutionary Guards chief -- formally registered their candidacy on Friday for the June 12 Iranian presidential election.
To read the full article, please visit the People’s Daily Online website.

As has been the case for the past six decades or so, the usually turbulent politics of Lebanon mirror almost perfectly the many strands of political, ideological, commercial and criminal activities that define public life in the Arab world. So it is again with the elections that will take place on June 7, comprising a series of positive and negative attributes that give these elections much greater significance than would normally be the case. I would suggest five dimensions where the election results could shed light on pertinent national, regional and global issues.

Academics agreed that the relative drop in performance of the former all-male parliament was likely to boost the chances of female candidates getting elected, found a study conducted by KUNA.Kuwait University's political science professor Dr. Abdulredha Asiri told KUNA that he expects many more males will be voting for women in this election round, and their choices will likely be more rational and realistic than before.
To view the full article, please visit the Kuwait Times website.

As May 16 draws near, hopes seems to be presiding the views of female voters. Even after the issuance of the recent fatwa forbidding voting for women, the supporters of the female a great majority still sees that change is only possible if women reach the Parliament. Kuwait Times conducted a survey to find out about the various views and reasons behind women's support in female candidates.
To read the full article please visit the Kuwait Times website.

An Administrative Judicial Court ordered the Lawyers’ Syndicate elections be held on May 23, the Middle East News Agency (MENA) reported, and rejected cases filed against the incumbent chairman running for another term.The elections have been postponed three times since October 2008.
To read the full article please visit Daily News Egypt's website.

Kuwait votes in a parliamentary election on Saturday, two months after the ruler of the world's fourth largest oil exporter dissolved the Islamist-dominated parliament to end a long-running dispute with the government.

Kuwaiti voters head to the polls on 16 May in an early general election triggered by the cabinet's resignation following a row with parliament.This is the third early election in less than three years and the third in which women are allowed to vote and stand for parliament.
To read the full article please visit the BBC website.

Around 384,000 voters are expected to head to polling stations to select 50 members of Parliament tomorrow. Voters are to select from around 211 candidates vying for parliamentary seats.
To read the full article please visit the Al Watan Daily website.

Out of the 587 candidates running in the Lebanese parliamentary elections this year, only 12 are women. If half of the female candidates make it, which, judging by previous election results and current alliances, is highly unexpected, female representation in parliament would amount to a mere four percent.Increasing female political participation has been listed on practically every single political platform, from Hezbollah’s to Future’s, but Lebanese women still show dismal numbers in parliament, something their sisters in many countries across the globe surpassed a long time ago.