Female voters shaking up politics in Kuwait

[CSM]

http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/06/26/news/kuwait.php

They came young and old, rich and poor, eager to hear the latest stump speech and even more eager to make their presence felt.

Hundreds of voters gathered in a cavernous wedding hall in a conservative suburb of Kuwait City to hear Walid al- Tabtabaei, an incumbent Islamist candidate, give one of his last speeches before the parliamentary elections Thursday. The voters compared notes on candidates and debated their merits.

One thing set them apart from the voters who attended political rallies in past elections here, though: almost all were women.


This should be interesting!

 

[theHawk]

Yea and if they don't vote the way their man tells them --- *whoosh* Kobayashi-maru!

 

[CSM]

Yea and if they don't vote the way their man tells them --- *whoosh* Kobayashi-maru!

Could be...but if the vote is secret, how will "their man" know?

 

[Mr.Conley]

I think Kuwait and the UAE are going to pull a South Korea on us. They've built up their economies beyond exporting resources. They're moving into other sectors such as finance and tourism. This shift to new, better industries will increase overall prosperity. Eventually democracy will follow. We're already seeing this in Kuwait and rumblings of it in the UAE.

 

[CSM]

I think Kuwait and the UAE are going to pull a South Korea on us. They've built up their economies beyond exporting resources. They're moving into other sectors such as finance and tourism. This shift to new, better industries will increase overall prosperity. Eventually democracy will follow. We're already seeing this in Kuwait and rumblings of it in the UAE.

Probably true but hard to tell at this stage. I fail to see the connection in these statements with women's suffrage in Kuwait, however.

 

[Mr.Conley]

CSM: I'm writing a lengthy post. Will respond eventually.