[Reader-list] (KUWAIT) "Women's election victory attracts crop of headlines"

[Kshmendra Kaul]

"Women's election victory attracts crop of headlines"
Published Date: May 18, 2009 
 
LONDON: Leading British newspaper The Independent yesterday welcomed female candidates' success in Saturday's elections, after four of them won parliamentary seats, becoming the nation's first ever females to be elected to the Kuwaiti parliament. The broadsheet described this development as a "resounding victory" in a GGC state, where the legislature has been men-only for almost half a century. Women in Kuwait gained the right to vote and run for office in 2005 but failed in two previous elections to win
seats in the 50-member parliament.

Official results from Saturday's vote were read out by judges on TV yesterday, it noted. Kuwait, "one of the few democracies in the Gulf, has led the region in giving its people political rights", the Independent said. One of the women elected, Massouma Al-Mubarak, was also the country's first female Cabinet minister, the article continued. The other female winners were women's rights activist Rola Dashti, education professor Salwa Al-Jassar and philosophy professor Aseel al-Awadhi. Voters casting ballots
in Saturday's polls said they were tired of years of clashes between lawmakers and Cabinet members, the newspaper explained.

Those clashes have sparked political crises that led to three elections and five Cabinets in three years, it said. Moreover, several Arab and international mass media and news agencies have highlighted Kuwait's 2009 parliamentary elections and Kuwaiti women's historic victory. They hailed the women's success as a landmark event that came only four years since Kuwaiti women were first given the right to vote and contest elections. The Voice of America (VOA) said that Kuwaiti women had won parliamentary se
ats for the first time in Kuwait's history, and noted that Kuwaiti women only obtained their political rights in 2005. Deutsche Presse Agentur (DPA), meanwhile, said that Kuwait had elected its first female lawmakers in a move seen as a historic success for women in the Gulf state's male-dominated parliament.

Massouma Al-Mubarak, who made history by becoming the first Kuwaiti female minister in 2005, led all the candidates with a large margin in her district. The other women that were elected are liberal Aseel Al-Awadhi, women's rights activists Rola Dashti, and independent university lecturer Salwa Al-Jassar, the DPA said. Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported that Sunni Islamists lost ground in Kuwait's general election, but women made history by bagging four seats, their first ever win in the 50-member parliam
ent. It said four women candidates made history by winning the first seats in Kuwaiti parliament, with one of them coming on top of the 10 winners from her district.

Six women were among 210 candidates who stood in the election, the third since 2006, it added. Reuters news agency also reported that Kuwaiti women won four seats in Kuwait's parliament, the first to do so in the Gulf Arab state's history, and reported a blow to Islamists who have long dominated the assembly. The agency also carried short synopses on the four women winners. The BBC said Kuwait elected its first female MPs following the oil-rich country's third general election in three years. It noted the victory of candidates Aseel Al-Awadhi and Rola Dashti in the third district. Qatar-based Al-Jazeera said Kuwaiti women achieved a victory in the country's parliamentary polls adding liberal and Shiite candidates had the lead, with Islamists losing ground. Many news outlets covering the elections in Kuwait also posted background material on women's political rights, the constitution and parliament dissolution history and regulation. - KUNA
 
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