INDIA ELECTS FIRST WOMAN PRESIDENT
Sat Jul 21, 2007 8:37AM EDT
FOREX.comBy Alistair Scrutton
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India elected its first female president on Saturday, official results showed, in what supporters called a boost for the rights of millions of downtrodden women, despite a bitter campaign marked by scandal.
Pratibha Patil, the ruling coalition's 72-year-old nominee for the mainly ceremonial post, easily beat opposition-backed challenger and standing Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat in a vote by the national parliament and state politicians.
"This a victory of the people," Patil told reporters after official results were announced. "I am grateful to the people of India and the men and women of India and this is a victory for the principles which our Indian people uphold."
Patil won about two thirds of the electoral college votes. There had never been any doubt she would win, given support from the ruling coalition.
The governor of the northwestern desert state Rajasthan, she emerged on the national stage when the Congress-led coalition and its communist allies failed to agree on a joint candidate.
Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, India's most powerful politician, had called Patil's nomination a "historic moment" and proof the country "respects women".
Supporters hoped Patil's candidacy would help bring issues that plague women in India -- like dowry-related violence -- into the public spotlight. A woman is murdered, raped or abused every three minutes on average in India.
Her presidency also reflects the growing power of some women in India, where an increasing number are taking part in the workforce and in schools and hold senior positions in corporations as India enters the globalized economy.
As the results of the presidential polls poured in, celebrations in Rajasthan started, with people singing and dancing as others lit fire crackers and beat large brass drums. Continued...
