Kuwait elect municipal council; last election confined to men

The Kuwaitis have started casting their votes in ballot centers on Thursday to elect their representatives to the municipal councils which includes 16 members for the ten circles on Kuwait.

Woman were absent because of the delay in the introduction of the new law which guarantees their right of voting and being a candidate, after it was approved by the parliament more than two weeks.

Some 131,000 voters will choose ten members out of 54 candidates, while the Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Jaber al-Ahmad al-Sabah will choose the remaining six to the council whose term will extend for four years. This council is assigned the issues on building planning for the city, health care and properties.

Kuwaiti papers said that the government intends to appoint three women in the council for the first time since its foundation three decades ago. However, the Kuwaiti prime minister Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah promised earlier to nominate one woman in his government. The post of the minister of health remained vacant since the resignation of Muhammad Jarullah in April..

Kuwaiti women will be able to have access to voting and to be candidates for the first time since 30 years in the legislative elections for 2007 and then later in the municipal elections for 2009.