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Kuwaiti women win first parliamentary seats
Women 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 state-owned TV on Sunday.
Kuwait, one of the few democracies in the Gulf, has led the region in giving its people political rights. Some critics, however, say the country’s political stability and economy have suffered due to the powerful parliament’s frequent clashes with Cabinets that are still selected and led by the ruling family.
Saturday’s election was the outcome of one such confrontation, which prompted Kuwait’s ruler, or emir, to dissolve parliament and call the vote, the second time that has happened in a year.
One of the women elected, Massouma al-Mubarak, was also the country’s first female Cabinet minister. The other female winners were women’s rights activist Rola Dashti, education professor Salwa al-Jassar and philosophy professor Aseel al-Awadhi.
