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Twenty-eight women are among 253 candidates running in the June 29 Kuwaiti legislative polls, the election department said Saturday after a deadline expired for withdrawing candidacies.
Some 407 hopefuls, including 33 women, had registered to stand for the 50-seat parliament, but 154 of them pulled out, the department said.
Women are taking part for the first time in parliamentary elections in the conservative oil-rich Gulf Arab state after they won the right to vote and run for public office in May last year.
Kuwait, with a native population of one million, has 340,000 eligible voters including 195,000 women, or 57 percent, and 145,000 men. This compares with just 136,000 eligible voters in 2003 polls when only men took part.
General elections were called one year ahead of time after Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah dissolved parliament following a dispute between the government and opposition MPs over an election reform bill.
Between 60 and 70 opposition candidates are contesting the polls either through their respective groupings or on their own. They include about 45 Islamists. Others are pro-government candidates or independents.
This will be the 11th parliament since Kuwait introduced a parliamentary system in 1962.
Parliament has legislative and monitoring powers and can unseat the emir on the recommendation of the government. In turn, the emir can dissolve the house.
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AFP 241426 GMT 06 06
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