Three Women Candidates Were Close To Win In Kuwaiti Parliamentary Polls

May 18, 2008 2:41 p.m. EST

Kuwait City, Kuwait (AHN) - Politics still remains a man's world in Kuwait. But at least three women candidates could have won the parliamentary elections, if the society and the government had changed their so called 'conservative' attitude toward them.

"I blame the society and government for the failure of women to make it to the House. The people carry attitude that women are not ready to run the country. I want to ask them who decides women should not contest. There is democracy and women keep trying," Bahraini women activist Dr. Munira Fakhro told AHN Media Corp. after returning from Kuwait.

Twenty seven women candidates contested for 50 seats for the 12th legislative term. No female candidate could make it to the House, but Fakhro says three women were close to winning from their districts. Under the previous electoral system, voters were divided into 25 electoral districts represented by two MPs each. According to the new system, there were five districts from which ten representatives were elected.

"The Kuwaiti law does not recognize political parties. There were only unorganized movements which refused to back any women candidate," Fakhro told AHN.

The irony of the fact is that like in most Gulf countries- female voters outnumbered males.

An estimated 214,886 voters cast their ballots, out of 361,684 eligible voters in the five constituencies; of them 161,185 are men and 200,499 were women, the Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) reports. A total of 413 electoral committees to count the ballots were set up in 97 schools around the country. Up to 1180 female volunteers were deployed at polling stations to ease the job of female voters seeking to exercise their franchise.

"Dr. Rola Dashti was the most popular candidate who received good votes and came in the eleventh position from her district. Independent Fatima Abdali was also a good contender in her area," Fakhro said.

Dr. Dashti ran for the 2006 elections and had reportedly received the highest number of votes while Aseel Al Awadhi, a university professor and Fatima Abdali , a doctorate in Environment studies were pitched as highly qualified women candidates for the elections.

Fakhro also ran for the 2006 parliamentary and municipal elections in Bahrain. She was questioned during an interview by a Kuwaiti channel on her loss, despite being backed by a political party- National Democratic Action Society.

" I was backed by a party unlike Kuwaiti women candidates, but it is the idea of the people and government which can make a real difference," said Fakhro, who had also filed a case at the Cassation Court in Bahrain, in which she alleged irregularities in the counting of votes and in the election results. The case was reportedly rejected without any reason.

Fakhro said a majority of the Kuwaiti society were from conservative tribes, but she said the new generation wanted 'change.'

Some 28 members of the outgoing parliament were re-elected. The government was in a political battle with the outgoing parliament which frequently used its legal tool of " vote of no confidence" against ministers, which was seen as a challenge for the ruling Al Sabah family.

The grilling saw the resignation of Dr. Massouma al-Mubarak, the first female cabinet minister. Nouriya al-Sabeeh was the only woman minister who managed to survive from a vote of no confidence from MPs.

Kuwait, a close ally to the US, is the fourth largest producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).