KUWAIT: After a long civil rights battle in 2005, Kuwaiti women finally could practice their right to vote. Since then, women had to struggle to put that right into concrete action. Much still needs to be done for women seeking a political role in this oil-rich emirate to prevail over religious conservatives.
Although women have been granted full rights to take part in Kuwait’s general elections, as long as they adhere to Islamic law, their participation in political life is still very modest. According to a report by Freedom House released last year, 27 women ran as candidates in the 2006 and 2008 parliamentary elections. But none of the female candidates have won a seat in the country’s National Assembly so far. The international pro-democracy group also noted that only 35% of Kuwaiti women voted in the 2008 elections.
On Monday, the Salafi movement, which believes in a strict fundamental interpretation of Islam, called for the boycott of female candidates in parliamentary elections scheduled for later this month. Fuhaid Hailam, a Salafi politician, told Al-Arabiya Channel that voting for women was a “sin” in Islam. He based his judgment on a saying by the prophet Muhammad, who reportedly asserted that a nation will not prosper if it is led by women.
The group’s statements were condemned by civil rights groups in Kuwait, which boasts one of the most democratic systems among neighboring kingdoms.
A Short Brief of 2009 Elections:
A total of 108 candidates including five women filed nominations papers for the May 16 general elections on the first day of registration as many hopefuls expected a more-than-normal change in the elections.Twenty-one candidates filed in each of the first and second constituencies, 28 in the third, 26 in the fourth and only 12 in the fifth district.
The May 16 polls will be the second in a year and the third in as many years in this oil-rich Gulf state which has been rocked by a series of political crises. The outgoing parliament was dissolved after Islamist MPs filed three requests to summon the prime minister for public questioning over allegations of misuse of public funds and mismanagement. Since 2006, five governments have resigned and three parliaments have been dissolved in OPEC's fourth largest producer which has amassed a huge surplus but where many development projects have been stalled by political bickering.
Elections in Kuwait is usually an individual process (with the absence of any formal political parties). Citizens base their electoral decisions based on family, clans/tribes and religious sects. With a patriarchal family structure, women have been voting according to what their husbands, brothers and sons have dictated on them. Also another element that was evident in previous elections, is the absence of women trusting other women's abilities.
Mubarak, who became the first women minister in Kuwait in 2005 after women received full political rights, said she was optimistic that she will enter the history books for a second time. "I was the first woman to become a minister. I am looking forward to become the first female to reach the national assembly" she told reporters after registering to contest the polls from the first district. Mubarak resigned after two years in the cabinet after Islamist MPs threatened to grill her over a fire that killed two people in Jahra Hospital in 2007.
Dashti filed to contest her third election and said that chances of women this time look promising since Kuwaiti people are now more aware of women rights and are ready to vote for them. Women, who won the right to vote in 2005, are taking part for the third time as both voters and candidates. They constitute 54.3 percent of the total eligible voters of 385,000. In the past two elections, a total of 54 women candidates have stood but without success.
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Wednesday, May 6, 2009
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