History in Kuwait: Four women elected to parliament

Published May 17th, 2009 - 09:26 GMT

Four Kuwaitis have become the first women elected to their country's parliament. Official results from Saturday's vote were read out by judges on state-owned TV on Sunday.

 

One of the women elected, Massouma al-Mubarak, was also the country's first female Cabinet minister. The other female winners were women's rights activist Rola Dashti, education professor Salwa al-Jassar and philosophy professor Aseel al-Awadhi, the AP reported.

 

The election outcome also indicated Muslin candidates losing ground. They won 16 seats on Saturday, down from the 24 seats they held in the previous house.