KUWAIT CITY, 3 June 2005 — Kuwaitis voted yesterday in municipal elections but women were excluded because a landmark law granting them the right to participate came too late.
Turnout was slow in the morning, with only a few dozen citizens casting their vote in each constituency. It picked up later in the day. Voting began at 8 a.m. (0500 GMT) in the 10 electoral districts and continued until 8 p.m.
The elections were being held under tight security measures, with Interior Ministry forces mobilized. This is the last election in which women will not vote after Parliament on May 16 voted to grant women full political rights.
“Although I oppose women participation in the election, I believe that the equation will dramatically change in the next polls when women take part,” Mansour Ahmed, 50, told AFP after casting his vote in a tribal area.
Voters were electing 10 members of the 16-seat civic body, while the remaining six members are appointed by the ruler of the country on government recommendation.
Local media have reported that the government intends to appoint up to three women as members in the municipal council.
Fifty-four candidates were contesting the polls, many of them backed by political groups and tribes. There are 130,000 eligible voters in Kuwait which has a native population of 956,000.
At least half of the contests are drawn on tribal lines as major Kuwaiti tribes back their candidates to ensure representation in the council. This is the first election since 1999 for the council which serves four-year terms. Polls were suspended for two years until Parliament approved a new law for the municipality.
Enfranchised Kuwaiti women will make their election debut in the 2007 legislative elections and will vote in the next municipal polls in 2009.
“This is a historic day. It is the last time that only half the society will make decisions for the country,” Rula Dashti, chairwoman of Kuwait Economic Society, told AFP.
