KUWAIT CITY, 6 July 2003 — Hundreds of Kuwait’s disenfranchised women turned out yesterday to vote in a mock election, hopeful that their symbolic action might make a difference in securing their future political rights.
In a makeshift booth at the Kuwait Journalists’ Association, young and old, veiled and unveiled, the women trickled in and out to cast their ballots in a parallel election to the country’s 10th legislative election, in which they are barred from taking part.
“I feel great,” Hana Razzuqi said after voting. “This is the first time I’ve been through the process of elections, or as it’s supposed to be.”
Along each side of the room, female monitors sat behind 25 red ballot boxes representing each electoral constituency. A steady stream of women came forward to make their two choices from the 246 all-male parliamentary hopefuls.
“A lot of people didn’t know this was happening today. I received a message about it on my mobile,” said Razzuqi, a senior information technology manager at the Central Bank of Kuwait.
Razzuqi said the mock vote could make a difference, but promised that another protest poll would be carried out in each constituency during the next elections should women not gain their full political rights by then. “In a way, it is a protest vote: maybe ours will be a shadow Parliament,” joked Razzuqi.
In the real election, polls opened their doors to 136,715 men eligible to vote.
