Kuwait's election in which for the first time women both stood as candidates and voted is a clear sign of change that is coming to the Gulf. The fact that none of the 28 female candidates won any of the fifty seats being contested by a total of 250 candidates is not in itself important. The fact is that for the first time women have been able to take a full part in Kuwait’s democratic process.
Analyses of the results are likely to continue for some time but it is already clear that although there were more women than men eligible to vote among the 340,000 electors, only a third of women bothered to go to the polls. Of those that did it is also apparent that many chose to support male candidates though in virtually every seat there was a female alternative.
What is certain is that for the first time, male candidates made a point of expanding their electoral programs and directing part of their pitch toward women. The fact that experienced male politicians were promising to take on board some of their concerns probably swayed many first-time women voters. After all, would not an established politician be better able to represent their interests than a new female assembly member?
As ever with reforming processes the world over, the rhetoric has somewhat overtaken the reality. Those who spearheaded female enfranchisement won the political argument but have yet to convince the majority of women voters. In four years’ time, when the next scheduled electoral cycle takes place, the response is very likely to be different.
It may not however be four years before Kuwaitis again find themselves going to the polls. The present election was precipitated by a walkout of reformist MPs protesting what they claimed was vote buying and demanding a reduction in the present number of constituencies. The reformists are now back in strength in the National Assembly and are likely to once again pursue their electoral change agenda. Their success at the polls seems to have stemmed in strong measure from their increasingly outspoken protests against corruption.
Though the National Assembly still has limited powers, it has increasing moral authority and can no longer be taken for granted by the government as the rubber stamp that it used to be.
The emir, Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah, probably appreciated this when he dissolved the old assembly and thus has not been surprised to see the reformists back in greater strength. It will mean the government working closer with the assembly and responding more positively to its concerns. This in itself can only be positive since, whatever honest differences will occur, it will serve to bring all Kuwaitis together into a single polity. That women are part of that polity is all to the good. It remains only for significantly more of them to exercise their democratic rights when the next election comes around.
