 The outgoing parliamentary speaker, Khalifa Al Dhahrani, beat a strong challenge in his constituency in Riffa from Sheikh Salman Bin Saqr Al Khalifa, who is a member of the Al Khalifa family and journalist with the "Al Wasat" newspaper.Sheikh Salman said that as a member of the royal family he hopes his decision to contest the elections will stimulate other members of the ruling families in the Persian Gulf countries to contest national elections and "end a tradition of not running in public polls.