Kuwait grants women right to vote

KUWAIT - Kuwait's parliament has passed a law granting women the right to vote and run in elections for the first time, after pressure from the pro-Western Gulf Arab state's reformist government.

"We made it. This is history," prominent activist Roula al-Dashti told reporters. "Our target is the parliamentary polls in 2007. I'm starting my campaign from today."

Outside parliament, people danced and cheered, passing drivers hooted their horns in support and fireworks lit the sky.

Parliament speaker Jassim al-Khorafi said a majority of the all-male parliament passed the law after a marathon nine-hour session. Thirty-five voted in favour, 23 against and one abstained in a vote that had met fierce resistance from Islamists and conservative tribal MPs.

The United States has pressed its allies in the Middle East to reform, saying a lack of freedom had fostered Islamic militancy. The Kuwait government wanted the bill passed before a likely trip by the prime minister to Washington next month.

US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher told reporters in Washington: "We think this is an important step forward for Kuwait, for the women of Kuwait and for the nation as a whole."

Islamist and conservative lawmakers, who wield enormous influence, narrowly defeated a similar women's rights decree issued by Emir Sheikh Jaber al-Ahmad al-Sabah in 1999.

"Thank God we finished with this issue," Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah said. "I want our womenfolk to help us build our beloved country and our future."

He said women could be appointed to the 15-member cabinet.

"This is a celebration for democracy even though it is 45 years late," said Jassim al-Gitami, a former MP and head of the Kuwaiti Human Rights Association.

Women activists said it was too late for women to vote and run for local elections set for June 2, after parliament earlier this month delayed a vote on the issue.

On Monday, Islamist MPs added a clause stipulating women must abide by Islamic Sharia rules when voting or running for office. MPs and women activists said this could include issues such as separate polling stations for men and women.

Islamist MP Faisal al-Muslim told Reuters he voted against the law. "An MP position in parliament would make women responsible for the masses and that is anti-Islamic," he said.

Kuwaiti women, traditionally more liberal and educated than their Gulf Arab counterparts but lagging behind in political rights, have demanded a greater say for years.

Parliament met to discuss a bill only allowing women to participate in municipal elections.

But in a surprise move, Sheikh Sabah's government instead asked the house for an urgent vote on granting full political rights to women.

Analysts said the government had tempted some Islamist and tribal and other lawmakers by agreeing to a popular bill to raise salaries for most public and private employees.

"MPs are being pressured from all sides ... locally and externally, to grant political rights to women," Islamist lawmaker Ali al-Deqbasi told the house.

Daifallah Buramia, another Islamist MP who also voted against the bill, said: "Anyone who supports the passage of this law would bear the sin until Judgement Day."

But veteran lawmaker Ahmad al-Saadoun challenged these MPs to come up with a single Koranic verse or saying of the prophet Mohammad that opposes voting rights for women.

"This is a historic moment for women," Sheikha Suad al-Sabah, a member of the ruling family told Reuters.

- REUTERS