BUSH DOCTRINE BATTERS ISLAMISTS
WOMEN TRIUMPH IN KUWAITI ELECTION
Amir Taheri
May 20, 2009
Praise the Lord this is truly
an amazing event, the woman’s right to vote in Islamic nations
FORMER President George W. Bush's policy of encouraging
In a major victory for the secular reformists over the
Islamists, women -- four of them -- were elected to the 50-seat national
parliament for the first time. The Islamists'
share of Sunday's vote dropped almost 30 percent from the last general
election, held just more than a year ago. The radical Muslim Brotherhood lost
three of its four seats, while the hard-line Salafis
dropped to two from four.
The election of women represents a political earthquake in the Gulf Cooperation Council, a grouping of six oil-rich
traditional Arab monarchies. Kuwait has had a parliament on and off since gaining
independence in 1960, but the other GCC members entered the era of electoral
politics largely due to pressure from the Bush
administration.
The four female parliamentarians all represent the emirate's
educated middle classes. The youngest, Aseel
Al-Awadhi, is a US-educated philosophy professor. The best known, Rola Dashti, also a teacher, has
campaigned for human rights for years. The third, Dr. Maasoumeh
Mubarak, is the first Kuwaiti woman to have served as a Cabinet minister (she
was health minister), and the fourth, Salwa al-Jassar, is a leading campaigner for women's rights. All
managed to defeat prominent Islamists and tribal figures in their respective
constituencies.
This was the second time Kuwaiti women were allowed to vote
in a general election. The first time, their
share of the vote was estimated at around 11 percent; this time it was almost
40 percent. The women won their seats largely because a majority of male voters
decided to cast ballots for them.
"This was a triumph both for women and for Kuwaiti
democracy," Al-Awadhi says. "Many voters were ready to go beyond the
man-woman divide and vote for the candidates they thought most fitted for the
job."
The other big winner was moderate Shiites, who represent a
quarter of
The increase in voter turnout, to more than 70 percent,
refuted any claim that democratization has little support in the
In fact, the Kuwaiti election is the third in a year to
produce a resounding defeat for Islamists. Last year, Pakistani voters reduced
the Islamists' vote share to three percent from 11 percent. Then, Iraqi voters
all but wiped out Islamists in crucial local elections.
The next battleground is
On June 12, the Islamic Republic of Iran will hold its
own presidential election, although only candidates endorsed by the regime are
allowed to stand. In August, it's
The biggest battle will come early next year, when
It's evident that the greater
Obama would do well to take a closer look at the Kuwaiti
election before he goes to