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High turnout reported in historic Kuwaiti elections
By Omar Hasan and Lamia Radi
AFP
KUWAIT CITY
Petroleumworld.com 06 30 06
Polling stations closed Thursday in historic Kuwaiti elections in which women took part for the first time in large numbers with initial reports indicating a high turnout.
The stations closed at 8.00 pm (1700 GMT) 12 hours after voting began and counting of votes, which is manual, was expected to start soon.
There was no immediate official figures on the turnout but state-run Kuwait TV reported that it was more than 80 percent in many of the 25 constituencies as voters braced searing temperature that was close to 50 degrees Celsius (122 Fahrenheit).
Kuwaiti women turned out in force to vote for the first time in parliamentary elections in the oil-rich Gulf state after a heated campaign focused on electoral reform and corruption.
Women voters, who represent 57 percent of the eligible electorate, rushed to start queuing in front of polling stations from early in the morning.
Outside Nafissa bint al-Hassan school, in Sabah al-Salem tribal district -- dubbed the "mother of all districts" because of its size, women clad in black abaya robes were lined up under a blazing sun.
"I insisted on being the first to vote. I am so happy that I could not sleep last night," said Zahra Ramadan Benbehani, 54, who arrived in a wheelchair pushed by her daughter.
Twenty-eight women are among 249 candidates running for a four-year term in the 50-seat legislative body.
First results were expected by midnight (2100 GMT) but all results won't be out before the early hours of Friday.
Female candidate Fatima al-Mutairi arrived in the polling station wrapped with a Kuwaiti flag-coloured scarf over her black abaya.
"Even if I get only one vote, it will still be a testimony to tell the men and women of my country that I took on the challenge and that I have entered history," she said.
In Al-Jabirya district, south of the capital, Buthaina Madi, a single businesswoman in her late twenties, was the first to cast her ballot as she was flying out of Kuwait one hour later.
"I did not want to miss this historic chance despite my trip. This is an historic event and I do feel the victory achieved by Kuwaiti women," said Madi, wearing Western clothes.
Female candidates sounded jubilant, with some saying they would still be happy even if they did not win a seat.
"Today, Kuwaiti women will write history. Kuwait will be proud of its women," candidate Rula Dashti told AFP as she walked around female voters at a polling station, embracing each of them and urging them to vote for her.
"Even if I didn't win a seat, I will consider myself as having succeeded for just running in the first election for women," said Nawal al-Mugaihet, a retired teacher.
Since winning full political rights a year ago, some female candidates said they faced intimidation during the campaign. One of them said she had even received death threats which forced her to withdraw her candidacy.The election is being held against the backdrop of a political crisis between the government and parliament that led Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah to dissolve the chamber on May 21.
The elections followed the fiercest campaign in 44 years of Kuwaiti parliamentary democracy, as the opposition bids to boost its reformist agenda, which includes slashing the number of constituencies to fight corruption.
Opposition candidates charged during the campaign that vote-buying by their pro-government rivals was rife.
The 340,000-strong electorate was voting at 94 polling stations in public schools, 47 each for men and women who vote separately under the election law. Of the total of 341 voting booths, 182 were reserved for women.
Forty-six outgoing MPs, including 28 of 29 opposition MPs, are hoping for re-election, in addition to 12 former members who served in previous assemblies.
Between 60 and 70 opposition candidates, comprising Shiite and Sunni Islamists, liberals, nationalists and independents, are standing in a loose alliance that is pressing for reforms, particularly of the electoral system.
Analysts have predicted that the opposition, which held 29 seats in the dissolved parliament, could win up to 35 seats.The opposition needs 33 seats to claim an absolute majority in the chamber, because 15 of the 16 cabinet ministers are ex-officio members who have the right to vote despite being unelected.
Parliament in OPEC-member Kuwait has legislative and monitoring powers and can vote ministers out of office.
AFP 29 1734 GMT 06 06
Copyright ©2006 AFP. All Rights Reserved.
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