KUWAIT CITY, 20 April 2005 — In a first step toward granting women full political rights, Kuwaiti lawmakers agreed yesterday to allow women to vote and run in local council elections, but the measure requires more legislative action before it would become law.

The measure was taken on a 26-20 vote for women’s participation with three abstentions. The session was attended by more than three quarters of the 64 lawmakers and Cabinet ministers entitled to vote.

A second reading of the bill and a second vote, expected in two weeks, was required before the bill becomes a law. Then it would require the Kuwaiti ruler’s signature, generally a formality and the emir has made clear in the past he supports women’s political rights.

“Thank God, the first step toward women’s rights has been completed ... We are waiting for the major step and I am sure it will be approved like this one,” Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah said.

“I congratulate my sisters for obtaining their rights in municipal elections and they will get their other rights in voting and standing in parliamentary elections,” he told reporters after the vote.

The premier said he was confident Kuwaiti women would get their full political rights during the current parliamentary term which ends in June and said he would appoint a female Cabinet minister once women are enfranchised. “This step prepares the ground for women’s political rights in full at Parliament,” said Deputy Prime Minister Mohammad Sharar.

“There is acceptance and understanding ... for the need to have women participate in elections and political life in general,” Sharar, who is also minister of state for Parliament and Cabinet affairs, told reporters.

Kuwaiti women are barred from participating in parliamentary polls but the government has introduced a bill to grant full female suffrage that has yet to be approved by the 50-man house.

Similar government moves have failed in the past in the pro-Western country, including a 1999 law narrowly defeated by an alliance of conservative Islamist and tribal MPs.

Women activists gave a cautious welcome to yesterday’s decision, saying more was needed.

“Any move by Parliament toward granting women their right is seen as positive even though it is very late,” said Masoumah Al-Mubarak, a Kuwait University professor. “We had hoped today to celebrate amending Kuwait’s election law in totality, not just pertaining to the Municipal Council elections.”

“This is the first step ... I hope women will run in these (municipal) elections, and we hope that the big step will be participation in Parliament,” said Rola Dashti, a women’s rights activist.

Municipal Council elections are expected to be held in the second half of this year. The council comprises 16 members, six of whom are appointed by the emir.

“This bill is an achievement to broaden popular participation,” liberal lawmaker Ahmed Al-Mulaifi told the house.

Kuwaiti women have reached high government posts, but conservative MPs don’t want them campaigning among men or receiving male voters in their offices.

Earlier this month, the Islamic Affairs Ministry ruled that Kuwait’s emir, Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah, has the last word on granting women equal political rights if religious scholars disagree on the issue. Sheikh Jaber supports the right for women to vote and run for office.