KUWAIT CITY, 22 February 2005 — Kuwait’s Islamist Ummah Party announced yesterday total backing for women’s full political rights, becoming the first Sunni Muslim group in the emirate to support women’s suffrage.

The party “approved by a majority the principle of women’s political participation in voting and candidacy,” said a statement issued after a meeting to discuss women’s rights.

“The party calls on the national assembly and the government to approve women’s political participation and to comply with Shariah regulations and social practices,” the statement added. The party has three supporters in the 50-seat parliament but it was not immediately known whether those MPs will abide by its decision.

The Ummah Party was launched last month by a group of Salafi Islamists to become the first political party in the Gulf Arab region.

The government has not recognized its establishment and summoned its 15-member office bearers for interrogation at a police station. They were, however, released without pressing any charges against them.

The statement also called for broadening political participation in Kuwait by enfranchising servicemen and lowering the voting age to 18 years from the current 21.

The Kuwaiti government Sunday called on parliament to hold a special session to debate a bill granting women full political rights in a bid to speed up the process.

The bill, approved by the cabinet last May, calls for amending the election law which limits voting and candidacy to Kuwaiti males in an apparent contradiction of the constitution which stipulates gender equality.

To pass, the bill requires a simple majority of the 49 elected MPs and 16 ministers who are entitled to vote. Parliamentary elections are scheduled for July 2007. Among Kuwait’s population of 956,000, only 140,000 men are eligible voters.

Meanwhile, a Kuwaiti lawyer known for defending Islamists denied yesterday allegations that he had given money to the emirate’s most wanted man, Khaled Al-Dossari, and said he did not expect the state to press charges against him.

Osama Al-Munawer was freed on a $6,800 bail on Saturday after about three weeks in police custody but was barred from leaving the country.