Kuwaiti parliament passes election law hindering women’s political rights

Kuwait’s National Assembly approved a draft law regulating the parliamentary elections (General Elections Commission Law) and excluding women who don’t abide by Islamic Sharia law from practicing political rights of voting and nomination.

The National Assembly passed the bill in its second deliberation on August 1, with the approval of 59 members against three rejection votes. The law was then referred to the government.

According to the second paragraph of Article 16 in the law, female candidates shall abide by the Islamic Sharia. “Exercising the right to voting and to nomination requires compliance with the provisions of the Constitution, the [state’s] law, and Islamic Sharia.”

Jenan Boushehri, the parliament’s only female member, had submitted a request to the parliament speaker calling for removing this paragraph from the bill, saying in a statement on July 31, “[The second paragraph] is a political absurdity in the Sharia, its rulings and fatwas.” She, along with a few other members of parliament, hold the view that women’s practice of political rights should not be religiously controlled

Only nine out of 50 elected deputies called for the removal of the second paragraph of the article, namely Boushahri, Marzouq Al-Ghanem, Saud Al-Asfoor, Mohalhel Al-Mudhaf, Hamad Al-Medlej, Dawood Marafi, Hamad Al-Olayan, Badr Al-Mulla, and Abdul-Wahhab Al-Issa, reported Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper on August 1.

Lawmaker Hamad Olayan told Al Dustor, the official news website for the Kuwaiti parliament, that he stands against Article 16, adding that he asked for the abolition of its second paragraph.

“It is known to all that I have an Islamic background and I am proud of this matter,” adding that the Sharia should not be part of this law.

Also, the National Democratic Alliance, a liberal political bloc in Kuwait, said that imposing “religious guardianship” on Kuwaiti women to exercise their political role in nomination and election is a “renunciation of democracy.” 

The National Democratic Alliance saluted the position of the members of the National Assembly who rejected religious guardianship over women's political rights, affirming its support for their efforts in this regard, and at the same time calling on the rest of the deputies to correct Article 16 of the draft law and to support Kuwaiti women.