Kuwait: Early returns show Kuwaiti women winning parliament seats

KUWAIT CITY (AFP) — Early returns from Kuwait's general election showed Sunday that Kuwaiti women were poised to win their first seats ever in the Gulf state parliament.
With almost half of the votes counted, four female candidates came in the top 10 positions in three electoral districts. Ten MPs are elected from each of the five constituencies.
Massuma al-Mubarak, who made history by becoming the first Kuwaiti woman minister in 2005, was leading all candidates with a big margin in her district.
Liberal candidates Aseel al-Awadhi and Rula Dashti were also in strong position, while independent candidate Salwa al-Jassar was in fifth position in her district.
All the four women were educated in the United States and hold doctorate degrees in political science, economics and education.
Kuwaiti women, who make up 54.3 percent of the 385,000 eligible voters, were running in the elections for only the third time after they were enfranchised in 2005.
Sixteen female candidates were among the 210 hopefuls standing for the 50-seat parliament.
In the previous two elections no women won seats.
Kuwaitis voted on Saturday to elect their second parliament in a year after Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah dissolved the outgoing parliament in March following a standoff between MPs and the government.
Final results were expected later Sunday.