Kuwaiti women go to the polls to vote for first time

KUWAIT: Kuwaitis go to the polls today in the 11th assembly election since the emirate introduced a parliamentary system in 1962. For the first time Kuwaiti women will be both standing for office and casting ballots. They were granted the right to vote and run for public office in May 2005. The first woman was soon given a ministerial portfolio.

Female enfranchisement has more than doubled Kuwait's electorate to 345,000 voters - 145,000 men and 200,000 women out of a total population of 2.7 million. The electorate is so small because it is confined to natives whose forebears were residents at the creation of the emirate.

Women's participation has dramatically transformed the country's politics. Conservative Muslim deputies who oppose the female franchise have abruptly found themselves attending gatherings of well-informed women voters and appealing for their support. Candidates who formerly staged one meeting or rally during a campaign found themselves attending five or six gatherings and addressing women who ask uncomfortable questions.

Two hundred and fifty three candidates, including 28 women, are standing for 50 seats.

Several of the women have been threatened by reactionary elements who wanted them to quit the race. But most of the women, who are generally more liberal than their menfolk, rejected calls to pull out by conservatives and stayed the course.

While some women are likely to vote the way their menfolk do, many will take an independent line as have their sisters in Bahrain and Qatar, two Gulf states which have already given women the vote.

The United Arab Emirates, a federation ruled by sheikhs, has yet to accept popular representation, and Saudi Arabia is an absolute monarchy which has a male-only advisory council.

Kuwait's outgoing assembly was dissolved by the ruler, Shaikh Sabah al-Ahmad Jaber al-Sabah, on May 21st because of a conflict over an election reform Bill between the government, dominated by members of the ruling family, and deputies. Legislators opposed a government Bill to reduce electoral constituencies from 25 to 10. Parliamentarians want the number to be brought down to five, to reduce vote-buying.

The ruler intervened after three deputies demanded the right to question the prime minister, a member of the Sabah family. While parliament monitors the executive and has legislative powers, the ruler enjoys the authority to issue decrees overriding parliament and to dissolve the assembly.

Analysts argue that since Kuwait's male lawmakers have so far failed to introduce a separation of powers between the executive and the legislature, it is now up to the women to exploit their new-found political power by pressing for reform of the political system, accountability, and an end to corruption.