Kuwait: the first candidate for 2007 elections starts campaign

Two years before the legislative elections in Kuwait, Aesha al-Rasheed, the first Kuwaiti candidate decided to launch her election campaign by the beginning of May bowing to work for improving the conditions of woman.

Al-Rasheed, a prominent journalist, announced her determination to nominate herself for the legislative elections which will be held in July 2007, just one week after the consent of the Kuwaiti Ummah council on a draft law permiting woman for the first time, the right to vote and to be a candidate. Following al-Rasheed's announcement she was followed by four Kuwaitis. One writer, two human rights activists and one academic.

She stressed she will concentrate on awareness of women so as to realize the importance of taking part in the next legislative elections, adding that "the Kuwaiti woman had earlier practiced the law of elections in students unions, the chambers of commerce and industry, but this will be her first experience in the parliament." She stressed that she will nominate herself for her residential area in Keifan, one of the capital's quarters, which is considered a headquarters for the Salafeyah movement.

She disclosed that her utmost priority is "to end all forms of discrimination especially against widows, divorcees, and women married to foreigners." She wants to amend the civil status law which is based totally on the Islamic Sharia. She expressed her conviction that "the Sharia offers women their social rights in a better way (than practiced)."