This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 KUWAIT 001863 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR NEA/ARPI 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/03/2015 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM KWMN SOCI KU WOMEN POLITICAL RIGHTS
SUBJECT: WOMEN SPLIT ON FUTURE OF POLITICAL RIGHTS, SOME 
BELIEVE BILL WILL PASS IN TWO WEEKS 
 
REF: A. KUWAIT 1836 
     ¶B. KUWAIT 1808 
     ¶C. 04 KUWAIT 949 
 
Classified By: DCM Matt Tueller for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
¶1. (C) Summary:  During several meetings with women's rights 
activists and supporters on May 4, PolOffs noted varying 
differences in opinion on the chances of success for women's 
political rights.  Several expressed little hope that the 
two-week delay requested by Prime Minister Sabah Al-Ahmad 
Al-Sabah would result in any meaningful change.  Others were 
almost certain that the time is being used by the GOK to make 
deals with Members of Parliament (MPs) in order to ensure 
legislative success for women's Municipal Council political 
rights when Parliament reconvenes May 16.  All expressed 
frustration with the political maneuvering that took place 
during the Parliamentary sessions on May 2 and 3 and most 
thought the GOK did not do enough to guarantee the success of 
the bill.  All remarked to PolOffs that if the measure 
ultimately fails, it would be the Government's fault. 
Throughout the conversations PolOffs reiterated the Embassy's 
firm support for the rights of women everywhere to be full 
participants in the political life of their countries. End 
Summary. 
 
¶2. (SBU) During a series of May 4 discussions with women's 
rights activists and supporters, PolOffs received mixed 
assessments of the possibility for success of the bill that 
would grant women full political rights at the Municipal 
Council level.  Although there was uncertainty about the 
legal standing of the vote on municipal elections, all the 
activists we spoke with questioned the sincerity of the 
Government's professed interest in granting women political 
rights after the May 2 vote ended inconclusively and under 
unusual circumstances.  The May 2 vote, during which 
pro-government MPs opted to abstain in large numbers from 
supporting an amendment granting women voting rights in 
municipal elections was the latest missed opportunity for the 
GOK to back up public claims that expanding suffrage to 
include women is among its top priorities (refs A and B). 
 
Some Have Little Hope... 
------------------------ 
 
¶3. (C) Professor of Political Science Dr. Maryam Hasan 
Al-Kandari expressed little hope that women would get their 
rights when the National Assembly convenes on May 16.  She 
was discouraged by the vote and said that many MPs view women 
in general as second-class citizens.  She also expressed 
frustration that the women's organizations were not doing 
more to publicly pursue the issue of women's rights. 
Referring to fact that women's groups have done little since 
the women's political rally in front of the National Assembly 
on March 7, she said the political activities of women's 
organizations are like a balloon popping, and even when they 
pop, she said "they don't make any sound." 
 
¶4. (C) Dr. Haila Al-Mekaimi, a young professor of political 
science at Kuwait University told PolOff that she was very 
disappointed with the outcome of the parliamentary vote.  She 
opined that the vote on women's political rights illustrated 
the lack of any serious GOK vision.  She claimed that the 
failure of the vote in favor of women's rights is the result 
of a troubled political system.  Stating that Kuwait is no 
longer behaving like a parliamentary monarchy, she explained 
that it is now a government of coalitions.  She said all 
issues are settled by ad hoc coalitions that are formed 
around Cabinet power bases currently: PM Shaykh Sabah, Energy 
Minister Shaykh Ahmad Al-Fahd Al-Sabah, Minister of State for 
Cabinet and Parliamentary Affairs Dhaiffalah Sharar, and the 
young but influential Shaykh Mohammed Al-Abdullah Al-Mubarak. 
 
¶5. (C) Secretary General of the Women's Cultural and Social 
Society and women's rights activist Lulwa Al-Mulla expressed 
great disappointment about the parliamentary vote and held 
out little hope of any near-term success.  She now questions 
whether the GOK was ever serious about the issue of women's 
rights saying she was insulted by the manner in which the 
vote took place.  She thinks the petty politics that appeared 
to mark the voting process cheapened the important issue of 
women's rights.  She opined that the GOK wants to look 
serious but does little to support the enfranchisement of 
women.  She lamented how little the GOK has done to influence 
MPs on the legislation. 
 
¶6. (C) Al-Mulla was also concerned that if women gained their 
political rights at the Municipal Council level that the 
political forces would be satisfied with the partial victory 
and would not pursue women's rights at a national level.  She 
stated that PM Shaykh Sabah must be firm on this issue for it 
to pass, but speculated that perhaps he could not succeed on 
this issue without giving more than he is willing to in 
exchange for MP support. 
 
...While Others See Success On The Horizon 
------------------------------------------ 
¶7. (C) Kuwait University Professor of Sociology Dr. Lubna 
Al-Kazi believes that the vote was a "big game."  She said 
that there were far too many abstentions from MPs whom she 
knows support women's political rights for it not to be an 
"orchestrated tactic."  She explained that most of the MPs 
who abstained did so because the GOK did not offer them 
anything in return for their support.  Those MPs, she 
explained, are looking forward to cutting a deal with the GOK 
in the next two weeks to vote in favor of the municipal 
rights bill in return for government acquiescence on other 
issues, possibly including agreeing to a national pay raise, 
forgiveness of electricity bill debt, lowering the voting age 
to 18, and granting voting rights to members of the police 
and the military. (Note: Should the members of the police and 
military, now denied the right to vote or run for office, 
gain their political rights, this would directly politically 
benefit the rural bedouin tribes because the majority of the 
personnel in these organizations are drawn from their ranks. 
End Note.)  Dr. Lubna said that she knows for example, that 
MP Bader Shaykhan Al-Farsi supports women's political rights; 
when he and others like him abstained, she was convinced that 
what was occurring was a political tactic.  She expects that 
a deal will be arranged to ensure passage of the measure. 
(Note: An EmbOff present in Parliament during the May 3 
session was told cryptically by MP Bader Al-Farsi as he was 
walking out of the Assembly to not worry because "it will 
pass in two weeks." End Note.) 
 
¶8. (C) Women's rights activist and head of the Kuwait 
Economics Society Dr. Rola Dashti said that the session was 
"chaos" and that no one knew what was going on.  She said 
this was complicated by the fact that while the PM is truly 
committed to passing women's rights, many of his Ministers 
are not.  Specifically, she accused Minister Sharar of 
lobbying against the amendment and then reporting to PM 
Shaykh Sabah that they did not have enough votes.  Calling 
the process "frustrating," she said there was "lots of 
maneuvering" going on behind the scenes.  At one point, she 
noticed Energy Minister Shaykh Ahmad Al-Fahad sitting next to 
Shi'a MPs Saleh Ashour and Sayed Al-Qallaf, who then changed 
their votes from abstentions to no votes. 
 
¶9. (C) Dr. Rola said she is "95 percent sure" that the 
scheduled vote in two weeks would result in women getting the 
vote, but that another measure on the postponement of 
scheduled June Municipal Council elections would not pass. 
Nonetheless, she said things may have worked out better this 
way, as women will have "ample time" to organize for 2009 and 
will stand a higher chance of being elected than if they had 
only a few weeks to prepare.  She said that she is almost 
positive that the GOK intends to install a female member on 
the Municipal Council after the elections.  She noted that 
the female Undersecretary of the Ministry of Planning had 
attended Municipal Council meetings before, but this had 
received little attention.  (Note: The GOK appoints 6 of the 
16 seats on the Municipal Council. End Note.) 
 
¶10.  (C)  Likewise, writer and professor Dr. Siham Al-Furaih, 
was not suprised by the May 2 and 3 events, lamenting that 
Kuwaiti women have been through this before.  She remained 
optimistic, however, that Kuwaiti women would receive the 
right to vote before the 2007 end of the parliamentary term. 
 
 
PM Either Not Serious Or Engaged In Deal-Making 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
¶11. (C) Comment: Prime Minister Shaykh Sabah undoubtedly did 
not make a strong effort to secure passage of this amendment. 
 The PM allowed his Social Affairs Minister to be out of the 
country during the voting, permitted his Salafi Justice 
Minister to be absent from the session, and has thus far 
chosen not to appoint a replacement Health Minister since the 
resignation of Mohammed Jarallah.  Further, some have noted 
the absence of serious deal-making with MPs on the part of 
the Cabinet, especially when compared to the strong effort 
made to save former Finance Minister Mahmoud Al-Nouri from a 
Parliamentary vote of no-confidence in March 2004 (ref C). 
The abstentions by many of the pro-Government MPs on May 2 
also did little to convince most that the votes were 
legitimately cast and not part of a larger political strategy 
engineered by the GOK.  These political machinations call 
into question the seriousness of PM Shaykh Sabah's public 
comments hailing women's political rights as one of his top 
priorities.  That said, post finds it plausible that the GOK 
will use the two weeks before the next Parliamentary session 
to secure promises of support on the amendment, should a 
re-vote occur. 
 
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LEBARON