Confrontational and aggressive, will the Kuwaiti elections succeed in establishing a real democratic state with representation for all? Sherine Bahaa follows the beat It is an election circus where all Kuwaitis have a part. Today Kuwaiti men and women are heading to the ballot boxes distributed over 25 constituencies, each to stand alone behind curtains making their choice. Royalty across the Gulf are taking note of the way these Kuwaiti elections are played out, for these countries all have one thing in common: they are all moving in the same direction -- towards greater representation for their people. Today's elections, a year earlier than scheduled, have a different edge -- in everything from campaigning, to electoral platforms, monitoring and even in candidacy and voters' nature. Kuwait is originally divided into 25 electoral districts, with two seats up for grabs in each. Up to 15 further seats in parliament are reserved for government ministers, who are all appointees rather than elected representatives. Today around 253 candidates are standing, ranging from conservative Islamists to liberals, pro-government candidates and independents. According to Kuwaiti media, 47 MPs in the dissolved assembly are standing for re-election. The emir dissolved parliament amid a row between reform-minded MPs and the government over changes to the electoral system. With a decision to dissolve parliament and a call for early elections adopted on 21 May, Kuwaitis were left with little time to prepare, especially women who are newcomers to the electoral process. But all proved willing to take charge, above all, Kuwaiti youth. Mostly educated in the United States and several participating in the 2004 US elections, they have imported their experience in the West and "Kuwaitised" it to suit their country. According to Jassem Mohamed, a graduate of political science in Harvard University who took part in John Kerry's campaign, lobbying for candidates should be from the bottom up, and technology should be used to facilitate the interaction between voters and candidates. "The time has passed when speeches and orations are listened to, now action is the best way to do it and we in fact succeeded when we diverted our dissent to a palpable rejectionist movement." "Candidates have to go down to their people in the market, in healthcare centres, and deal in person with their constituents. Before candidates were confined to their campaigning headquarters or diwaniyas and this is boring," said Mohamed. Another example is Dana Khobeizi, a Masters graduate who has been working with the UNDP in New York. She believes that youth have the magic wand in the electoral process. "They have to find new ways of doing it and youth have the knowledge and experience to direct the populace to the pivotal issues in the nation. We lack the lobbying system, which is very crucial in linking all the institutions of society, the government, the parliament as well as the public interests association," said Khobeizi. But it is not only youth that emerged as crucial players in today's elections. In fact, elections in Kuwait could demonstrate the breaking of many longstanding traditions, both between generations and genders. The mere fact that Kuwaiti women are able for the first time to both stand and vote at the national level has drawn the attention of the world. Women's votes will be particularly important, especially since the number of women eligible to vote is about 200,000 compared to 145,000 men. Expectations are high, enthusiasm is everywhere. All want to gauge what effect women voters will have on the make-up of Kuwait's National Assembly. It was interesting to watch women and men sitting side by side in diwaniyas, listening to different candidates in order to make their choice. Ironically, it was the agendas of male candidates that mostly tackled gender issues, although it was their first time to do so in parliament. "We women got fed up. All through the past 25 years no one ever thought of solving any of our social problems but today, after we had become an influential element, they topped their programmes with our issues," commented Fatima Al-Abdali, a candidate in the Daiya constituency. Fatima and a handful of other female candidates have been attacked for joining the electoral race; their billboards were mutilated and threats were sent to their houses urging them to quit the whole process. "I have the strongest CV, I am a threat" replied Fatima, adding that she was not concerned. Unlike men, women -- mostly high-profiled career women -- believe the election process was unfair. With no earlier experience in the field, women feel unready for such a battle, especially as it is taking place one year ahead of schedule. With such a new and different electoral process, it is evidently unpredictable what sort of parliament will be formed. Though many argue that chances for women candidates, a total of 28, are low, while the voting power of the female electorate is outstandingly high. Will the Kuwaiti women bring about a change in the balance of power? With a long list of heated issues ranging from corruption, reform, vote-buying, amending number of constituencies, educational reform, and unemployment, all these proved to be very appealing to women. Women showed up as regular attendants in campaign headquarters, raised witty questions and delivered courageous speeches to their counterparts, urging them not to waste their right to vote and not to be affected by their husbands. They called for transparency. For the first time in the history of the country, national campaigns to counter the buying of votes were launched by newspapers and groups including "Nazaha" (integrity) and "Election Transparency". The Kuwaiti Ministry of Interior has decided to introduce see-through ballot boxes for the elections. This week, the chairman of the Kuwait Elections Transparency Society praised the three women who presented their testimonies in the "buying votes" cases as being heroes. Kuwait, like other Arab countries, has a wide range of ideological strands -- from militant Islamists to secular liberals -- and these are all competing for power. Who will win the race? It will not be long until we know.
