Women win right to vote
THE KUWAITI parliament has voted to give women full political rights. The amendment to Kuwait’s electoral law means women can, for the first time, vote and stand in parliamentary and local elections. It was passed by 35 votes for, 23 against, with one abstention. The result, announced by the speaker of parliament, was greeted with thunderous applause from the public gallery, where backers of the amendment were gathered. “I congratulate the women of Kuwait for having achieved their political rights,” said Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah. Kuwait’s ruler Sheikh Jabir al-Ahmad al-Sabah issued a decree giving women full political rights in 1999. The change in the law, which was agreed at the end of a 10-hour session, had previously been blocked by a majority of tribal and Islamic members of parliament.
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