Kuwait: Women bulk of voters in 2008 elections

Women are coming into the parliamentary elections for 2008 as the bulk of voters at some 56.7 percent of the overall, according to official figures.

The records show the voter component as 196,602 females and 150,192 males.

This second time around for Kuwaiti women as candidates and voters is the first under the five-constituency scheme.

Interior Ministry records meanwhile indicate voter turn-out among women was at 58 percent compared to 77 percent among men in the previous elections. The second constituency had seen the highest women turnout with 2,727 voters.

Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) figures indicate there were 35 women among the 262 heads of parliament across the world in 2007 and that about 18 percent of the world's MPs, according to UN figures for 2008, are women.

-- Kuwait News Agency