Five Kuwaiti women become first females to register as candidates for parliamentary elections.
By Omar Hasan - KUWAIT CITY
Five Kuwaiti women made history Thursday by becoming the first females to register as candidates for parliamentary elections, ending a 44-year-old ban on their political participation.
"It's a historic day. It's a dream come true and the actual beginning of Kuwaiti women's participation in public life," leading women's rights activist Rula Dashti said after filing her papers at the election department.
Registration opened on Thursday for the June 29 election in the oil-rich Gulf emirate which was called on Sunday in a bid to end a deep political crisis over an electoral reform bill.
"Today, we strengthen the role of women's participation in the political life," said Dashti, a holder of a doctorate in economics from the prestigious Johns Hopkins University in the United States and chairwoman of the Kuwaiti Economic Society.
She said she would focus her campaign on economic reforms, unemployment and combatting corruption.
Kuwaiti women, deprived of a political role since parliament was established in 1962, won the right to vote and run for public office in May last year in a historic vote by the assembly.
Two women contested a municipal council by-election in April, and one came second among eight candidates for the only seat.
"Today I feel that democracy has gained a second wing... We have tried men for long and it's time to give women the opportunity," journalist Aisha al-Rasheed said after registering her candidacy.
Rasheed, running in the district of Keifan, an Islamist stronghold, said she would focus on the issues of women "who have been ignored for four decades.
"I will fight for equality among the sexes in rights and duties."
The other three women candidates are Khaleda al-Khader, a holder of a doctorate in public health from the United States, Ghanima al-Haider, a professor at a local college and Taiba Ibrahim, a writer.
More women are expected to lodge their candidacies before registration expires on June 3.
Four of the five women candidates were waiting at the election department long before registration opened, before any male candidate arrived.
Registration took place in two separate offices in line with a law that requires segregation of the sexes, but the two offices were almost entirely staffed by women employees.
Under the election law, all candidates must be Kuwaiti by birth, over 30 years old, know how to read and write Arabic, registered on the electoral roll and not have a criminal record.
Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah dissolved parliament Sunday following a bitter standoff over a bill calling for a reduction in the number of electoral constituencies from 25.
Opposition MPs have accused the government of deliberately blocking political reform, complaining that the large number of constituencies opens the way for vote-buying and other electoral fraud.
Dozens of young activists carrying orange banners and Kuwaiti flags gathered outside the election department in Kuwait City to urge candidates to back a reduction in the number of constituencies to five.
"We are here to resume our national movement for reform, and to support all national and clean candidates and help in the downfall of corrupt elements," Khaled al-Fadalah, a leader of the so-called Orange Movement said.
The number of eligible voters is 340,250, or 34 percent of native population, including 195,000 women, according to election department head Ali Murad. The voting age is 21 and servicemen are barred from casting a ballot.
A majority of the 50 MPs in the dissolved parliament along with hundreds of other candidates are expected to contest the election.
But the Islamist Ummah (nation) party, launched last year as the first political party in Kuwait and the Gulf Arab region, said Wednesday it will boycott the polls because of alleged corruption and vote-buying.
