KUWAIT CITY, May 17: Kuwaitis voted for change in the second poll in a year, giving women their first seats in Parliament and punishing Sunni Islamic groups, according to results released on Sunday. Frustrated at political turmoil that has rocked the country over the past three years, Kuwaitis voted 21 new faces into the 50-member Parliament, reducing Sunni Muslim groups to a minority. There was no immediate official figure on Saturday’s election turnout, but the state-run KUNA news agency estimated it at 58 percent, down from last year’s 65 percent.
Four women candidates made history by winning the first female seats in the Kuwaiti Parliament, with one of them coming on top of the 10 winners from her district.
Liberals Maasouma Al-Mubarak, Aseel Al-Awadhi and Rola Dashti, besides independent Salwa Al-Jassar won seats in the new house. All are US-educated and hold doctorate degrees in political science, economics and education.
Kuwaiti leaders hailed the achievement as a deserved win.
In a cable of congratulations to the four women, HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah said he was “very delighted at the great results achieved by Kuwaiti women and their deserved sucess in the elections.”
HH the Crown Prince also sent a similar cable.
Sixteen women were among 210 candidates who stood in the election, the third since 2006.
“This is the will of change of the Kuwaiti people,” MP Mubarak told AFP. “We hope the results will lead to political stability and help achieve the desired cooperation between Parliament and government.”
The two mainstream Sunni groups, the Islamic Salafi Alliance and the Islamic Constitutional Movement, the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, were dealt a heavy blow, winning just three seats versus seven they held in the previous Parliament.
Their tribal Islamist supporters were also reduced from 14 to just eight seats.
Liberals and their allies improved their tally by one seat to eight.
The Shiite Muslim minority emerged big winners, almost doubling their strength from five seats to as many as nine. Five of them are Islamist Shiites.
The nationalist Popular Action Bloc led by veteran opposition figure Ahmad Al-Saadoun took three seats, down one.
Major tribes, which account for half of the population, won 25 seats, a few of them pro-Islamists.
“Frustration with the past two Parliaments pushed voters to seek change. And here it comes in the form of this sweeping victory for women,” said one of the women elected, Al-Mubarak, who was also the country’s first female Cabinet minister.
“Kuwaitis conveyed a strong and clear message of change when they elected four women to the Parliament,” MP-elect Al-Mubarak said.
Expressing her interest in the Deputy National Assembly Speaker’s post, Al-Mubarak revealed she intends to compete for this position. She believes the success of four female candidates in the elections is a product of coordinated efforts among citizens, hence, the need to maintain national unity in the interest of the country. She added she has no intention to accept any ministerial post as she wants to focus on her new role as a parliamentarian to serve the voters, indicating the transformation of Kuwait into a financial and commercial hub is possible only through the cooperation of citizens.
Calling for the implementation of genuine economic reforms, Al-Mubarak vowed to focus on development and protection of Kuwait’s image in the international arena. She hopes the next Parliament will put the remarks of the Amir on top of their priority lists and complete the democratic process.
Proud of being a Kuwaiti, Al-Mubarak said the election results convey a strong message to those who have been initiating conflicts that change will take effect soon and “I am honored to be part of it.” She went on to say “achieving our dream to enter the Parliament has become more meaningful as it coincided with the 10th anniversary of HH the late Amir Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah’s issuance of a decree granting women’s rights on May 16, 1999.”
Dr Aseel Al-Awadhi said “we are at a crossroads and we should coordinate in overcoming the current political chaos.” She also unveiled her plan to seek membership of the parliamentary Education Affairs Committee, banking on her long experience as Social Science professor at Kuwait University (KU). She expressed her gratitude to the Kuwaiti voters who made history by supporting her candidacy. She thanked those who exerted tremendous efforts to help her during the campaign, especially the citizens who went to the polling stations to cast their votes and bestowed their trust on her. She promised to do everything to reshape Kuwait’s future and focus on development.
In leaflets that she distributed to voters in her constituency, Al-Awadhi said she came from a middle class Kuwaiti family. Her father worked at the Ministry of Electricity and Water (MEW), while her mother was a Mathematics teacher. This, she revealed, was the reason why she took interest and excelled in Mathematics, stating she studied in Al-Adailiya School.
“People voted for change because people are fed up with deadlocks. It is time to focus on our priorities inside the Parliament,” Aseel Al-Awadhi, one of Kuwait’s first women lawmakers told Reuters after her win.
Under the tutelage of former MP and minister, writer and philosopher Dr Ahmed Al-Rubaie, Al-Awadhi studied Philosophy, which she enjoyed due to the influence of Al-Rubaie, who has always been keen on instilling hope in the hearts of the youth.
She almost made it to the 2008 Parliament, prompting analysts to predict her success in this year’s elections in which she ran as an independent candidate. This time, she expanded her support base and maintained her agenda.
During the campaign, she stressed the importance of transparency and reassessment of the political experiment for women to pave the way for unparalleled opportunities. She underlined the importance of developing the economy, education, health and environment to uplift the country and maintain stability among individuals. She vowed to give importance to the youth, particularly in honing their skills and tapping their creative potential, so they can greatly contribute to national development.
Salwa Al-Jassar, another successful female contender, also disclosed her plan to be part of the Education Affairs Committee, while sources close to her said she will most likely be appointed Minister of Education and Higher Education due to her experience at KU and as manager of the Syllabus and Studies Development Department in the Ministry of Education.
Al-Jassar stressed this is a historic win for women as they have succeeded in entering the Parliament without the quota system. “The elections are now free, flying with two wings. Women have proven their ability to enter the Parliament and effect change in the political system,” she added.
Presenting this historic win as a gift to the Amir and people who bestowed their trust on female candidates, Al-Jassar pointed out women strongly contested the elections, especially in one of the most difficult constituencies — the Second.
She said this also a victory for HH the late Amir Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad who approved the political rights of women. “Finally, our democracy is walking on two legs as we now have both male and female parliamentarians — the first in the region,” she opined. She also thanked all citizens who trusted her ability to work in the Parliament, hoping to meet their expectations.
Rola Dashti, who succeeded in finishing the seventh in her constituency, believes “the historic victory has put women on the Kuwaiti parliamentary political map, where they will join their male counterparts in legislative decision-making.”
Dashti is not only a woman who dreamt of winning a parliamentary seat, but she is also a strong, resilient, irrepressible and confident person. She has never given up or allowed her morale to be dampened by any situation, which pushed her through to achieve this age-long dream.
She gave male contenders a good fight in 2006 when she took part in the elections for the first time after 44 years of men monopolizing the democratic practice.
Kuwaiti voters seem to have gotten used to the all-men assembly at the time, so male aspirants won all available 50 seats. Dashti was not deterred by the seemingly public disparity against women, so she carried on with the struggle without looking back. She gave it another try in 2008 with the campaign slogan “We Can”, which denoted that all Kuwaitis have a right to good living. She affirmed that Kuwaitis strongly believe in facing challenges and have the ability to overcome them. She concentrated her 2008 campaign on freedom of economy, involvement of citizens in the investment shares and agitation for amendment of residential law to enable Kuwaitis buy houses. This strengthened her campaign to the extent that she nearly won, except for some rumors that gained ground shortly before the elections. She, however, became a household name and a parliamentarian in the making.
In the 2009 campaign, she adopted another slogan “Change and Development Are Our Responsibilities.” She demanded citizens to join hands and work on initiatives to effect change to overcome the economic crisis. She urged citizens to prioritize interest of the country above individual interests, stating that Kuwaitis are entitled to comfortable living, civil rights, family stability and economic security.
With the ultimate opportunity of winning the National Assembly seat, Dashti reiterated her determination by saying, “I Can.” She was aware that the electors believed in her ability to deliver and bring about the much-desired change; hence the high number of votes she got. She remains a new face of early Kuwait and a role model for the children.
Dashti said the coming era puts on our shoulders the responsibility of working together for Kuwait and as an MP “I will work side by side with my colleagues to realize the dreams of the citizens who voted for me.” Sources close to her revealed she is pining for membership in the parliamentary Finance Committee due to her extensive background in economics.
Despite the whole nation’s euphoria over the success of women, some groups expressed concern over the return of ‘troublesome’ MPs like Faisal Al-Muslim, Waleed Tabtabaei, Daifallah Bouramiya, Musallam Al-Barrak and Mohammed Hayef. Their detractors who stopped them from exercising their constitutional right to grill the former premier like Ali Al-Rashi also made it to the Parliament, in addition to Sayyed Mohammed Al-Qallaf who demanded the unconstitutional dissolution of the previous Parliament.
Bouramiya and Khalid Al-Tahoos, two of three candidates detained by the State Security for criticizing the regime during the campaign period, also won parliamentary seats. Khalifa Al-Khorafi, the other candidate, backed out of the race a few weeks before the elections. Analysts believe their detention worked in favor of Bouramiya and Al-Tahoos as they were considered heroes, thereby, consolidating their chances in winning the elections.
Five out of nine Shiite winners — Dashti, Al-Mubarak, Faisal Al-Duwaisan, Hassan Jowhar and Adnan Al-Muttawa — contested the elections as independent candidates and put national development on top of their electoral platforms. On the other hand, only four Shiite candidates who joined alliances like Hussein Al-Qallaf, Adnan AbdulSamad, Saleh Ashour and Yousef Al-Zalzalah emerged as winners. It is also worth mentioning that AbdulSamad, who headed his alliance, came in the last position, while first-time female contender Al-Mubarak took the first position. Apparently, the five independent Shiite contenders made it to the Parliament through the support of the Shiites and Sunnis, who believed in the candidates’ electoral programs, not their religious perspectives.
1 comment:
THAT is encouraging!
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