KUWAIT (AP) -- Supporters of efforts to grant Kuwaiti women voting rights got a big boost in Saturday's election when liberal candidates more than tripled their numbers in the Persian Gulf's only parliament.
Liberal or liberal-leaning candidates secured 14 spots in the 50-seat National Assembly -- up from four in the parliament dissolved in May. Pro-Islamist candidates won 20 seats, pro-government politicians, 12, and independents four in results tallied Sunday.The position of all the new lawmakers on a decree that would permit women to vote and run in elections beginning in 2003 were not clear. However, because a two-thirds majority of 34 lawmakers would be required to block it, passage appeared all but certain.
Of Kuwait's 793,000 citizens, only the 113,000 men who can trace their Kuwaiti roots several generations can vote. Along with women, members of the military and police are barred.
Kuwait's leader, Sheik Jaber Al Ahmed Al Sabah, had been frustrated by three years of bickering and criticism of his Cabinet ministers that had overshadowed legislation.
"There will be change," Jawad Abul-Qasem, a 45-year-old civil servant, predicted after casting his ballot. "The last parliament just wasted time. We elected them to solve our problems, but we didn't see any results."
Deputy Prime Minister Sheik Sabah Al Ahmed Al Sabah was quoted by the daily Al-Rai Al-Amm that he wanted the legislative and executive powers to work "in harmony . . . as we enter the next century."
So do many Kuwaitis.
"I hope the next parliament will be moderate . . . and will not be too occupied with squabbles and silly concerns," said Buthaina Mogahwi, a psychotherapist ineligible to vote because she is a woman.
The new parliament, however, may not be off to a very good start.
For the first time since Kuwait started elected parliaments in 1963, the government has sued candidates for insulting Cabinet members and the country's leaders. They had accused ministers of buying votes.
Several of the 288 candidates also were outraged that the Cabinet passed 60 laws in the House's two-month absence, including the decree on women's political rights.