"I believe women should be granted the right to vote, at least for time being," Al-Nashie

By Ragab El-Damanhori, IOL Correspondent

KUWAIT CITY , June 9 (IslamOnline.net) – Kuwait ’s Islamic Constitutional Movement has declared its support for the right of women to vote in elections as the Muslim Brotherhood offshoot is reviewing its position on political participation of females.

"I believe women should be granted the right to vote," Bandar Al-Nashie, the movement’s secretary general, told IslamOnline.net on Tuesday, June 8.

Al-Nashie said the movement’s earlier opposition of the move was connected with social circumstances, not Shari `ah-related reasons.

"The question is examined now, for taking a [clear] position in regard," he said, noting that the "Kuwaiti society is now ready for allowing the political participation of women".

The statements came after an edict issued by Islamic Fiqh scholar Mohamed Soliman Al-Ashqar stated that women have the right also to run for elections.

The Council of Ministers is expected to table a bill for Parliament to approve women’s right to vote and stand for election.  

A similar move was narrowly defeated in 1999 by legislators due to pressure reportedly from some Islamist and tribal lobbies in coming session.

The Council had said it hoped to amend Kuwait 's 1962 election law as part of its policy of "broadening popular participation". The next general elections in Kuwait are scheduled for July 2007.

Still Opposed

But the Salafist trend is still set against women voting or running for elections, claiming that "the move runs counter to Shari `ah".

"Muslims have all agreed during the last 14 centuries that women should not be allowed them sovereignty over men. Its Parliament membership will allow her to interpellate ministers – something which clashes with Islamic tenets," Khaled Tarek Al-Eissa, the leader of the Islamic Salafist Alliance, claimed.

Social Islah (Reform) Society said that women should not be allowed to walk such a road of elections, reiterating earlier justifications that "Islam does not approve women having power".

In Islam, scholars say, women are the counterparts of men, and every law addressed to men is also addressed to women. Thus, there is no room in Islam for any such gender discrimination.

Well-known Muslim scholar, Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi said in an earlier edict that there is nothing wrong "if a woman is appointed as head of an institution, or member of parliament as long as it is within the interests of the Muslim society."

Sheikh Zoubir Bouchikhi, Imam of the Islamic Society of Greater Houston’s Southeast Mosque, said in another edict, that any one denying women the right to vote "is following his culture and not his religion".

He urged such moves "have to stop sooner than later because they are harming Islam and the Muslims".

Official Backing

Kuwait Minister of Waqfs (Endowments) Abdullah Al-Maatuq repeated his support for women to have political rights, saying Islamists are the most to benefit from this.

He noted that Islamists had won student elections due to the backing of women – a case which "can stand a repeat in legislative elections".

Maatuq said the government asked the Fatwa Administration attached to the Ministry for an edict on the issue.

U.S. Interference

This came as Kuwaiti Islamists accuse the American Embassy in the emirate of interfering into the debate on women’s political participation.

"Does they allow us to interfere into their home affairs, as same-sex marriages or discrimination against African Americans, as they do," said Islamist MP Jassem Al-Kandari, in a statement obtained by IOL.

Kuwait is the only Gulf Arab state to have an elected parliament, but women are not allowed to vote or stand for public office.

The country’s 1962 constitution says that both men and women are equal. But an all-male parliament, in seeming direct opposition to the constitutional edict, has adopted laws barring women from voting.

In January 2001, Kuwaiti court rejected a request by women rights advocates granting women in the Arab emirate the right to vote in parliamentary elections.

In 1999, the country's ruler, Sheikh Jabir Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah issued a decree giving women full political rights.

But the move was defeated in the National Assembly by 32 votes to 30. Kuwait 's top court has also rejected five cases to grant women political rights.  

Although excluded from the legislative process, Kuwaiti women occupy top oil jobs and business roles, though they are estimated to hold only five percent of senior bureaucratic posts.

Women in the country far outnumber men as students and teachers, and all primary teachers in government schools are females. A few years ago, they had made up around 70 percent of all graduates from Kuwait University .