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Kuwaitis vote for new parliament Kuwaitis wait for polls results
(about 4 hours later)
Kuwaitis are voting to elect a new national parliament for the second time in two years, after a political crisis prompted the government to resign. Voting has ended in Kuwait where a new parliament is being elected for the second time in two years after the government resigned amid a crisis.
Results are not due until Sunday and, with women hoping to take seats for the first time, there is an air of excitement, a BBC correspondent says.
The entire cabinet resigned in March, saying they could no longer work with MPs who "interfered" with their work.The entire cabinet resigned in March, saying they could no longer work with MPs who "interfered" with their work.
Economic concerns such as inflation, high oil prices and a weak dollar have dominated the election in the oil-rich Gulf state, correspondents say. Economic concerns dominated the poll in the oil-rich state.
Women candidates are hoping to enter parliament for the first time. Turnout was said to be modest in the morning heat and dust but had picked up by evening, with figures of more than 75% for men and slightly more than 50% for women being suggested by local media at close of polls.
More than half of the 360,000 Kuwaitis eligible to vote are women.
Having won the right to vote and stand for office in 2005, they failed to win any seats in the 2006 election.
Excluded from the ballot are foreign expatriates, who make up the majority of Kuwait's 2.9-million population, and military personnel.Excluded from the ballot are foreign expatriates, who make up the majority of Kuwait's 2.9-million population, and military personnel.
Turnout was said to be modest in the morning heat and dust but was expected to pick up by evening.
Polls opened at 0800 (0500 GMT) and will close 2000 (1700 GMT), with the first results expected early on Sunday morning.
Economic worriesEconomic worries
The BBC's Julia Wheeler in Dubai says that rising food and commodity prices have been at the top of the agenda for many Kuwaitis ahead of Saturday's vote. More than half of the 360,000 Kuwaitis eligible to vote are women.
Campaigning came to a halt earlier this week with mourning for the late emirCampaigning came to a halt earlier this week with mourning for the late emir
One of the questions Kuwaitis are asking themselves as they await the results is how many of the 27 female candidates will be among the 50 parliamentarians elected, the BBC's Julia Wheeler reports from Dubai.
It is only the second time women have been able to stand as candidates or take part in the voting, and none was elected last time in 2006.
Kuwait remains a traditional society and some women will have been influenced by conservative male relatives who do not want them to vote for female candidates, our correspondent notes
Rising food and commodity prices have been at the top of the agenda for many Kuwaitis ahead of Saturday's vote.
Kuwait may sit on 10% of the world's oil reserves - a commodity currently selling at record prices - but as a small desert state it is obliged to import most of its food, our correspondent says.Kuwait may sit on 10% of the world's oil reserves - a commodity currently selling at record prices - but as a small desert state it is obliged to import most of its food, our correspondent says.
The oil price is denominated in a weak dollar but about a third of imports are paid for with the strong euro, affecting ordinary people on a daily basis, she adds.The oil price is denominated in a weak dollar but about a third of imports are paid for with the strong euro, affecting ordinary people on a daily basis, she adds.
Election campaigning came to a halt earlier this week with mourning for the former Emir, Sheikh Saad al-Abdullah al-Sabah, who died on Tuesday.Election campaigning came to a halt earlier this week with mourning for the former Emir, Sheikh Saad al-Abdullah al-Sabah, who died on Tuesday.
Last-minute campaign rallies, traditionally held in huge tents, had to be cancelled but the government said it was determined not to postpone the election itself.Last-minute campaign rallies, traditionally held in huge tents, had to be cancelled but the government said it was determined not to postpone the election itself.
Women's voice New rules
A total of 275 candidates are running for the 50 seats in the National Assembly, 27 of them women. Kuwaitis are proud of their democratic record, our correspondent says.
Many in Kuwait still believe a woman's place is in the home, correspondents say. They live in the first Gulf state to have had a parliament and it remains the national assembly with the sharpest teeth.
"I'm against women in parliament - I think everybody should stay in his place," Samira al-Azm, a voter in her 50s, told Reuters news agency. The Emir is able to dissolve parliament and the introduction of women standing and voting was relatively late in Gulf terms.
A loose alliance of reformists and Islamists secured nearly two-thirds of seats in the 2006 parliament. However, Kuwait's national assembly deputies have more of a voice than their counterparts elsewhere in the region, our correspondent says.
Reformists are hoping that the reduction in electoral districts from 25 to five will make it harder both for their rivals to buy votes and to be elected by a small number of voters exclusively from their tribe or sect. This election has been designed differently to those previously, our correspondent reports.
"I voted for a new face that was not in parliament before and whom I think has new ideas," Fatima Mubarak, a young housewife, told AFP after casting her vote. The number of constituencies has been reduced from 25 smaller ones, which varied considerably in size and electoral roll, to just five large ones in order to reduce the possibilities of vote-buying and rigging.
"We are fed up with political crises which halted any achievement. We are fed up with lots of talk and no action." This time the electorate made up to four choices each from inevitably long lists of candidates.
This has arguably made the process at the voting booths more complicated and it has made the predictions as to the outcome far more speculative.
Such is the excitement, though, that many Kuwaitis will be waiting up all night for the results, our correspondent says.