Kuwaiti government appoints two women to the municipal council

The Kuwaiti government decided to appoint two women to occupy two seats in the municipal councils which is composed of 16 members, ten of them were elected on Thursday. This coincided with the consent of the parliament to providing women full political rights in May.

Results of the municipal elections resulted in the winning of 6 of tribal candidates; two backed by Sunni and Shiite Islamists while other two supported by liberal businessmen had won.

The municipality system in Kuwait states to elect ten members of the council via elections while the Amir of the country appoints the other 6 at a recommendation submitted by the government.

The prime minister in Kuwait Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah said following the parliament voting in May on offering women political rights that there is an inclination to appoint one woman in his government which is composed of 16 ministers.

Women in Kuwait are due to take part for the first time in the parliamentary elections in 2007 and in the municipal elections in 2009. Five Kuwaiti women one journalist, one writer, two human rights activists and one academic are preparing to launch the next parliamentary elections with the expectation that some 200,000 women will be registered for the voting record for next February.

Worthy mentioning that Kuwait was the first Gulf country which had enacted a constitution for itself. In Kuwait also the first democratic and parliamentary elections was held in 1963. But since then, women were banned from taking part in the political process.