Yemen: Islah declares women unfit for election

According to Qahtan, the decision was made at the latest Islah session held in Sana’a on January 26, 2003 in light of the challenges and obstacles that women candidates face. “Our society is still ignorant and there are still some social, cultural and ideological principles that women cannot stand against. Although Islah was the first to nominate women to its higher committees, we reached a conclusion that it is still difficult to nominate women from Islah for the coming elections. We also found it impractical, especially if we consider the number of previous nominations of women even within our party itself,” Qahtan said.