Kuwait women to fight for parliament seats

KUWAIT, June 27 (Reuters) Women candidates are determined to make headway in Kuwait's parliamentary elections today despite an uphill battle against experienced male opponents and a tradition uneasy with equal roles for women.

More than 250 candidates contesting the polls -- including 28 women -- have addressed packed tents of men and women at campaign rallies across the Gulf Arab state in the run-up to the first poll in which women run and vote.

New polls were called a year early after the emir dissolved parliament last month after a crisis over electoral reform.

Many observers, including those women running, realise they have a small chance of success due to little time to prepare campaigns, being relatively unknown and inexperienced in political circles and facing tough opposition from more seasoned male politicians.

''This is something we've been looking for, for many years. I had my own belief one day we will get this right. It was a dream come true,'' said independent woman candidate, Salwa Saeed, 33.

''I am pessimistic on women winning due to many obstacles but it is enough to take part with no fear in the polls battle.'' Other observers say conservative groups, whether tribal or urban, will hamper liberal women's chances.

''The liberal women are very few, they're vocal, but they cannot deliver because they don't have the same grassroots support that Shi'ites, the Islamists, and the tribal-areas do,'' Kuwaiti analyst Shamlan al-Essa told Reuters.

FIRST EXPERIENCE Fatima al-Abdali, a prospective candidate and an employee at a state oil firm, had an alternative medicine specialist explaining to voters how the date Abdali used to host the rally -- June 26, 2006 -- was favourable using numerological science.

Abdali, whose slogan is ''the fingerprint of change'', then had a large map of Kuwait bought in at her campaign rally and asked the attendance to all stamp their fingerprint on the map, as a sign of their commitment to change.

Despite such creative tactics, some women candidates say the odds are against them.

Others say one or two can make it to the house because the total number of women eligible to vote is higher than men at 57 percent of the total of 340,000 voters.

Nawal al-Bakheet, a woman running in Jleeb al-Shuyoukh, said she was unable to campaign properly because constituents told her a women cannot campaign in this conservative tribal area.

Aisha Rushaid, who draws hundred of men and women to her rallies, was optimistic: ''Even if only one woman is elected, she will represent all women in Kuwait and it will be a victory for Kuwaiti women in their first political experience.'' Rushaid's billboards have been tarnished with graffiti denouncing her ambition to run for office.

Other analysts say conservative men in Kuwait, including former Islamist MPs with a strong say in the dissolved house, have also voiced displeasure with women running in the polls.

Nearly half of the house -- 24 conservative Islamist and tribal MPs -- had voted against women suffrage.

''Their chances are weak, because the conservative men are not convinced they can run as MPs and there's also jealousy between the women themselves,'' Ali al-Baghli, a former oil minister, told Reuters. ''I doubt they'll make it this time, but I hope I am wrong.'' Reuters SK VP0055