Kuwait Govt open to women quotas in Assembly polls

Kuwait, The Gulf Observer: A proposal made earlier by the Speaker of the dissolved National Assembly Marzouq Al-Ghanem to amend the electoral law to set a quota for women in each constituency in parliamentary elections is very close to government approval after it was studied by the Cabinet’s legal committee, which approved it and placed it on the government’s agenda.

Sources said the proposal calls to allocate one or two seats to women in each electoral district, so the new Assembly will have 10 or at least five female members.

The sources said the proposal will be on the agenda of the new government to be formed following the National Assembly elections, expected to be held in late September.

They said the current government will not consider the proposal because it is only temporary and will resign as soon as the election results are announced.

The sources said the proposal is null and void as it was submitted in a dissolved parliament and will not be on the agenda of the concerned committee in the new parliament, but the plan is for the government to present it as a proposed law to be discussed first in the legislative committee, followed by the interior and defense committee, then go through due process.

The sources said the government wants the proposal to confirm the status of women in the society and have women in parliament, especially since elections have not brought women except on rare occasions.

This does not meet the ambitions of and is not commensurate with the situation of Kuwaiti women, who have held senior positions, including as ministers.