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Kuwait Election Bodes Poorly For Women

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May 18, 2008 9:09 am US/Pacific

Kuwait Election Bodes Poorly For Women

 CBS News Interactive: About The Middle East

KUWAIT CITY (AP) ― Official results for Kuwait's parliamentary elections show strong gains for Muslim hardliners. But women candidates failed to win a single seat.

The results show that religious conservatives gained two seats in parliament to hold 24, nearly half of the 50-member body of this oil-rich U.S. ally.

Elections were held after the country's ruler dissolved the parliament in March when relations between it and the Cabinet had broken down irrevocably.

Westernized liberal Aseel al-Awadi, the only woman supported by a political group, came very close to being elected. Women gained the right to run for office in 2005.

The outcome of Saturday's vote doesn't bode well for ending tensions between the Cabinet and the parliament.

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