Kuwait's hardline Islamists, citing foreign interference, have embarked on a counter-offensive in the face of a determined government-led drive to grant disenfranchised women their suffrage.
The anti-women rights campaign kicked off late Tuesday with a public rally hosted by tribal-Islamist lawmaker Daifallah Buramya under the slogan that "based on Islamic sharia law, women have no political rights".
Buramya vowed to oppose a government-sponsored draft law that would grant women the right to vote and run for public office, citing fatwas, or religious edicts, that prohibit participation of Muslim women in politics.
"Ninety percent of Kuwaiti women reject political rights because they know it is against religion," said the lawmaker who warned MPs of a "big shame" if they approved the bill.
The leader of the fundamentalist Islamic Salaf Alliance, Khaled al-Issa, criticised liberals and what he branded "agents of some foreign embassies," who are trying to distance Muslims from their religion by forcing women's rights.
"The constitution must represent the will of the Kuwaiti people and not foreign demands to change the political course we have chosen," said Issa, speaking at the same rally.
More rallies are scheduled before parliament votes on the draft legislation and Islamist activists have started using SMS text messages in their campaign.
Kuwait's Islamist Ummah Party however announced on February 21 its total backing for women's full political rights, becoming the first Sunni Muslim group in the Gulf emirate to support women's suffrage.
A second group, the Islamic Constitutional Movement, or Muslim Brotherhood, said it was still considering the issue as some of its leaders have publicly supported women's right to vote.
The bill, approved by the cabinet last May, calls for amending the election law, which limits voting and candidacy to Kuwaiti males while the emirate's constitution stipulates complete gender equality.
The Kuwaiti government in February called on parliament to hold a special session to debate the bill. State Minister for Cabinet Affairs Mohammad Daifallah Sharar said it will be debated this month.
Parliament is due to look into the government's request at its next session on March 7 when a date for the special session could be set. Parliamentary sources said the draft legislation could be debated on March 12.
The government is reported to have formed a three-minister committee to garner support among MPs for the bill.
Liberal-leaning Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah reiterated Wednesday the government's resolve to see the bill approved by parliament and for women to attain full political rights.
Energy Minister Sheikh Ahmad Fahd al-Sabah said earlier in the week that women will be appointed in the cabinet once the law is enacted.
"The government is absolutely determined this time. It is exerting efforts, making contacts and throwing its full weight behind the bill," said Sami al-Nesf, media advisor to the Kuwaiti premier.
"It is unthinkable to be in the 21st century and Kuwaiti women are still deprived of their political and civil rights," Nesf said.
To pass, the bill requires a simple majority of the 49 elected MPs and the 16 ministers who are entitled to vote. One of the ministers is an elected deputy.
A similar bill, tabled by Emir Sheikh Jaber al-Ahmad al-Sabah, was narrowly defeated in November 1999 by an Islamist-tribal alliance which opposed women's rights on religious and social grounds.
Kuwait's next parliamentary elections are scheduled for July 2007.
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