Kuwaiti parliament approves woman participation in municipal elections

The Kuwaiti Ummah council ( parliament) on Tuesday ratified a preliminary reading on a law that gives the right to woman in Kuwait to nomination and voting in the elections in the next municipal council expected later this year.

The Kuwaiti news agency said that the council approved amendment to the municipality law which was used to limit taking part in the elections to men, in a step which is considered the first of its kind in Kuwait.

The agency explained that 26 parliamentarians approved the law out of 49 who attended the vote, while it was opposed by 20 and three parliamentarians who abstained from voting.

A second and final vote to the decision will be made after two weeks.

On the other hand, the council approved another law for making the municipal council elections in October in order to pave the way to register the names of Kuwaiti women in the elections list.

Worthy mentioning that the municipal council in Kuwait includes 16 members, 10 of them are elected while the Amir of the country Sheikh Jaber al-Ahmad al-Sabah appoints the other 6.