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Women candidates draw a blank in Kuwait poll

Reformists win 36 of the 50 seats in Parliament

KUWAIT CITY: Reformists were the gainers in Kuwait's elections, but women, who participated for the first time, failed to win a single seat, according to official results published on Friday.

Names of the winners in Thursday's vote published by the state-owned Kuwait News Agency showed that 36 of those who won seats in the 50-seat House were reformists, so described because all publicly supported electoral reform. Twenty-one from that group had held seats in the previous Parliament that the Emir, Kuwait's ruler, dissolved last month.

"People want change"

``This is proof that the people want change,'' Abdul-Ridha Aseeri, head of the political science department at Kuwait University, said. ``I believe the [new House] will be confrontational.''

For the 28 female candidates — out of the 249 hopefuls who ran in the polls — the results were disappointing as none took enough votes to land a seat in the legislature.

Because a comprehensive vote tally has not been released — it was expected later in the day — it was impossible to assess how close any came to victory.

However, the independent Al-Watan newspaper reported on Friday that Rola Dashti, a U.S.-educated economist, gained the highest number of votes among women, followed by Nabeela al-Anjari, a former Information Ministry official.

Political science teacher Hamed al-Abdullah said he considered Ms. Dashti's result an achievement for Kuwaiti women.

``Even in developed countries with well-established democracies, women have not won their first time,'' he said.

Female voters account for 57 per cent of the electorate. No official figures on voter turnout have been released.

Several returning lawmakers said the first order of business for the new Parliament should be a bill reducing the number of electoral constituencies to five, which they say would make it almost impossible to buy votes.

In a routine move, the Cabinet, which is always headed by a member of the ruling Al Sabah family, is expected to resign on Saturday. — AP

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