Women break Assembly barrier (Kuwait Elections)

KUWAIT: Four Kuwaiti women wrote their names in the history books yesterday by becoming the first females to win seats in the National Assembly almost 47 years after its inception and exactly four years after Kuwaiti women were enfranchised. Maasouma Al-Mubarak, Aseel Al-Awadhi, Rula Dashti and Salwa Al-Jassar achieved spectacular victories even beyond the expectations of most optimists, with Mubarak and Awadhi coming in first and second places in their respective electoral districts. Dashti came in seventh position and Jassar in 10th.

All the women are US-educated academics and hold doctorate degrees in political science, political philosophy, economics and education. Three of them are professors at Kwuait University while Dashti was the first ever woman to become the head of the Kuwait Economic Society. Jassar is also the head of Kuwait Society for the Empowerment of Women. Thekra Al-Rasheedi, a lawyer by profession, despite not winning, also made history by winning 6,600 votes in an entirely tribal district where all the major tribes held their tribal primaries.

In a cable of congratulations to the four women, HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah said he was "very delighted at the great results achieved by Kuwaiti women and their deserved success in the elections." His crown prince also sent a similar cable. "This is the will of change of the Kuwaiti people," Mubarak said. "We hope the results will lead to political stability and help achieve the desired cooperation between parliament and government." Her supporters celebrated with fireworks and drove her home in a motorcade of honking cars like Kuwaitis normally do after weddings. The 62-year-old political science teacher, who once complained that she could not vote while her male students could, scored the most votes in her district.

People voted for change because people are fed up with deadlocks. It is time to focus on our priorities inside the parliament," Aseel Al-Awadhi said after her win. Besides this major surprise, the elections also had three other important developments: Sunni Islamist groups were crushed, Shiites almost doubled their strength and main opposition figures including the so-called "crises MPs" were re-elected. The Islamic Salaf Alliance (ISA) was reduced from four seats in the previous Assembly to just two, one of them Ali Al-Omair barely making it to the Assembly in 10th and last position.

The Islamic Constitutional Movement (ICM), the political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood, was left with only one seat, down from three in the previous Assembly and as many as six in the 2006 house. Sunni Islamists and their tribal allies now only have 11 seats, down from 21 in the outgoing Assembly.

Shiites boosted their strength considerably from five in the past Assembly to as many as nine with five Islamists. They won seven out of the 10 seats in the first district, besides one each in the second and third districts. But the Shiite National Islamic Alliance (NIA) won just one seat, down from two. The liberals and their allies improved by just one seat to eight, with Mohammad Al-Abduljader exiting and Abdulrahman Al-Anjari winning. Three of the women MPs are also liberals.

The Popular Action Bloc maintained its strength of three seats with Ahmad Al-Saadoun and Musallam Al-Barrak winning re-election and newcomer Khaled Al-Tahous replacing Marzouk Al-Hubaini, who lost in the tribal primaries. The Bloc could add another member in Mubarak Al-Waalan. Tribal members improved just one seat to 25 while the main tribes maintained their strength. Awazem won six, Mutairi five, Rasheedi four, Ajmans and Enezi three each, Oteibi two and one each for Hajeri and Dossari.

Main losers included former MPs Abdulwahed Al-Awadhi, Mohammad Al-Kandari and Ahmad Lari in the first district and Abdullatif Al-Ameeri and Abduljader in the second. Ahmad Al-Mulaifi and Abdul Aziz Al-Shayeji lost in the third. Twelve former MPs did not bid for re-election in the fourth and fifth districts either on health grounds or for losing in the tribal primaries.

Other than the four women, major new winners included Yussef Al-Zalzalah and Faisal Al-Duwaisan in the first, Abdulrahman Al-Anjari and Adnan Al-Mutawa in the second, Naji Al-Abdulhadi in the third, Mubarak Al-Khrainej and Mubarak Al-Waalan in the fourth, and Falah Al-Sawwagh, Khaled Al-Tahous, Dulaihi Al-Hajeri and Badi Al-Dossari in the fifth.

Three of the five Islamist MPs who filed three requests to grill the prime minister have been re-elected. They are Mohammad Hayef, Faisal Al-Muslim and Jamaan Al-Harbash. Of the other two, Nasser Al-Sane did not contest while Abdulaziz Al-Shayeji lost. Moreover, two candidates who were detained for criticizing the ruling family and threatening to resist the security forces, have also been elected.

In all, there are 21 new faces in the Assembly, three each in the first three districts, four in the fourth and eight in the fifth. In the last elections, 22 MPs were changed. "This is a historic election... but the so-called deadlock MPs are also back and we hope they change course," said Ali Al-Baghli, a former oil minister. "We need to have a government that is able to lead and move forward with reforms... I think there is a possibility that we will see a similar crisis," said political analyst Shafiq Ghabra. "The question is which way will the government move?

In the light of the results, political analyst Nasser Al-Abdali believes the composition of the next government will be decisive in shaping relations with the new parliament. Under law, a new Cabinet must be named before elected MPs hold their first formal session after two weeks. "If the composition of the new government does not change fundamentally, crises will return in a big way," said Abdali, head of the Kuwait Society for Development of Democracy. He said that almost all members in the outgoing parliament whom the government blamed for causing crises have been re-elected which "sets the stage for more confrontations.

This is a message that the Kuwaiti society has started to move away from such movements that are based on hatred," said political commentator Sami Al-Nisf. Many voters also said they were tired of years of political upheaval sparked by parliament's frequent attacks on Cabinet members, which often lead to attempts to impeach ministers. Al-Nisf said the win by female candidates was an achievement to be proud of not only in Kuwait but around the region. "They made it without organized political parties supporting them or a quota system. This is a huge leap forward for Kuwait's democracy," he said.

Al-Nisf said the roughly 40 percent turnover in the election, which produced 21 new faces in parliament, was a sign that voters were tired of the confrontational style of some lawmakers. "There is a signal from voters that grillings have lost their glitter," said Al-Nisf. The poor results for fundamentalist Muslims, he said, represented a rejection of their efforts to push for social restrictions. They have succeeded in banning coeducation at universities and clamping down on public entertainment. (Material from agencies used in this report)
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Why is gender in politics important?

Why is the election of women in Kuwait significant?

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