US embassy cable - 05KUWAIT1404

C O N F I D E N T I A L KUWAIT 001404 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR NEA/ARPI 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/05/2015 
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, KDEM, KWMN, KU, WOMEN'S POLITICAL RIGHTS 
SUBJECT: STILL NO DATE FOR DECISION ON KUWAITI WOMEN'S 
VOTING RIGHTS 
 
REF: KUWAIT 1401 
 
Classified By: CDA Matt Tueller for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
1. (U) An expedited National Assembly vote on Kuwaiti women's 
voting rights may not happen before May. The recent grilling 
and subsequent proffered resignation of the Health Minister 
and other Cabinet changes (septel) have delayed a 
Parliamentary vote originally anticipated for April. 
Furthermore, the Interior and Defense Committee has yet to 
report on the draft legislation, a requisite step before a 
full Assembly vote. The only other option remains dissolving 
Parliament and promulgating women's suffrage by Amiri decree. 
 
2. (C) Former Information Minister and current Advisor to the 
Prime Minister Muhammad Abdulhassan told the Ambassador April 
5 that the GOK would prevail with women's suffrage but lacks 
two votes in the Parliament at present. He implied that the 
Prime Minister would convince Speaker Jassem Al-Khorafi -- 
who voted against women's voting rights in 1999 but now 
publicly supports them -- to cast a positive vote while 
reiterating that the PM does not want to travel to the U.S. 
in May without a positive resolution. Abdulhassan claimed the 
GOK has no interest in dissolving the Parliament. 
 
3. (C) Women's rights activist Dr. Moudi Al-Humoud, however, 
told poloff April 6 that the Government may be losing 
resolve. She said that a pro-rights television commercial 
including testimonials from various activists, including 
Al-Humoud, has yet to air. When she contacted state-run 
Kuwait Television to inquire about the status, she was told 
that the Government ordered the delay of the commercial's 
broadcast. On a separate note, newspapers have run virtually 
no articles this week regarding women's voting rights for the 
first time since the Council of Ministers sparked the 
campaign on February 20. 
 
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TUELLER