Kuwait Times

Published Date: May 29, 2009
By B Izzak, Staff writer

KUWAIT: An unsuccessful third constituency election candidate yesterday filed a petition to the public prosecution challenging the constituency's election results because the two winning female candidates among the 10 winners do not wear the hijab, or headcover.

Hamad Abdulaziz Al-Nashi filed a complaint stating that MPs Aseel Al-Awadhi and Rola Dashti clearly violated the elections law which requires that women must comply with Sharia Islamic law. Nashi, who stood unsuccessfully as a candidate in the election, demanded in his petition, presented on his behalf by lawyer Jamal Al-Youssef, that the election of the two women should be scrapped because they failed to comply with Islamic law.

Election law states that women have the right to vote and stand for public office provided that they comply with Sharia regulations, although it does not specify what these regulations are. The amendment was introduced when the National Assembly voted in May 2005 to enfranchise women. The motion was submitted by a number of Islamist and conservative MPs who were originally opposed to women's rights.

Nashi said that the election of female MPs also violates the Kuwaiti constitution which states that Islam is the official religion of the state and that it is a main source of legislation. A number of Islamist MPs have also claimed that MPs Awadhi and Dashti violate the election law for not wearing the hijab and vowed to protest against this "violation" at the National Assembly's first session next Sunday.

The two women have ridiculed the notion that they are violating the law, pointing out that the election law does not specifically stipulate that they should wear the hijab. Four Kuwaiti women made history in the May 16 election by winning seats. Two of the women wear the hijab while the other two do not. In the last assembly, a number of Islamist MPs walked out of the first session when the two female ministers, Moudhi Al-Humoud and Nouriya Al-Sabeeh, who do not wear the hijab, took the oath in the assembl
y.

Later, the assembly approved a motion to ask the legal and legislative committee to study whether the two ministers had violated the law by not wearing the hijab. The committee had not completed its investigation due to the assembly's dissolution. In the meantime, candidate Fahad Ayyad Al-Mutairi, who came in 11th position in the fifth electoral district, yesterday filed a petition at the constitutional court challenging the results of his district.

Mutairi claimed that the number of votes he received was higher than that officially announced by the judges on election day. Another candidate, former MP Khaled Al-Adwah filed a similar petition on Wednesday challenging the results in the same constituency. Adwah came in 12th position.