US embassy cable - 05KUWAIT2509

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KUWAIT 002509 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR NEA/ARPI 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, PHUM, PINR, KWMN, EIND, KU, WOMEN'S POLITICAL RIGHTS 
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR CONGRATULATES NEW MUNICIPAL COUNCIL 
MEMBERS; TWO WOMEN APPOINTED IN HISTORIC FIRST 
 
REF: KUWAIT 2416 
 
1. (U) Summary: Ten Kuwaiti men were elected in June 2 
elections to the 2005-2009 Municipal Council and the GOK 
appointed on June 3 two women and four men to the Council 
completing the formation of the 16-member local governing 
body. The Ambassador paid courtesy calls on several 
newly-elected Council members to congratulate them on their 
victory and to hear their perspectives and priorities for the 
new Council. The appointment of two women Council members 
marks the first time women have served on the Council and is 
the first example of the increase in woman's political 
participation since the May 16 legislation granting Kuwaiti 
women full political rights. End Summary. 
 
2. (U) The Ambassador met separately, on June 5 and 6, with 
six of the ten elected Council members to discuss their 
electoral victories and policy priorities.  The political 
goals of the newly-elected members were primarily locally 
focused and ranged from promoting private sector development 
and combating corruption, inside and outside of the Council, 
to changing the Municipal Council process by adding more 
technical expertise to the Council's work.  All members told 
the Ambassador that the presence of women on the Council was 
a welcome addition.  Dr. Fadhel Safar Ali Safar, the only 
Shi'a on the Council, said that he was sure that the women 
would perform better than most of the men.  (Note: Election 
day voter turnout was low in most of the ten constituencies, 
estimated at 50 percent nationwide -- much lower than the 73 
percent turnout during the 2003 Parliamentary elections.  The 
average number of votes cast for each winner was 3,150. End 
Note.) 
 
3. (SBU) Among the elected members are one Shi'a, one Sunni 
Islamist, two local independents, and six tribal Councilmen. 
Of the six tribal members, Abdullah Al-Azmi, has a university 
education and two out of six, Mohammed Al-Mutairi and Zayed 
Al-Azmi, did not complete high school.  The tribal members 
include two Al-Azmis, two Al-Mutairis, one Al-Ajmi, and one 
Al-Enezi -- all prominent and influential Kuwaiti tribes. 
(Note: That six are considered 'tribal' means that they were 
elected with great help from their tribe, may be subject to 
extended family pressures when making decisions in order to 
best benefit their tribe, and also implies that they are 
politically and socially more conservative and provincial in 
their views. End Note.) 
 
4. (U) The GOK appointed, on June 3, six members to the 
Municipal Council, including two women engineers Shaykha 
Fatima Nasser Al-Sabah and Fawziya Al-Bahar.  The appointed 
members were chosen for their technical expertise and 
reaction to the appointments has been overwhelmingly 
positive.  Of the six, there are three engineers, two 
lawyers, and one management logistician.  The appointment of 
two women, both of whom studied in the U.S., marks the first 
tangible manifestation of the May 16 legislation granting 
women full political rights.  Although women were not 
permitted to participate in the elections, this is the first 
time women have been eligible to be appointed to the Council. 
 Shaykha Fatima told the press that although the Council is a 
technical institution, she would not hesitate to use her 
position to support women's issues. 
 
5. (U) The ten elected members of the Municipal Council are: 
- Dr. Fadhel Safar Ali Safar, the Shi'a head of the Petroleum 
Information Department at Kuwait Oil Company 
- Khalifa Msaed Al-Khorafi, cousin to National Assembly 
Speaker Jassem Al-Khorafi and three-time former member of the 
    Council 
- Mohammed Ibrahim Al-Mufarrej, a local businessman 
- Abdul Aziz Al-Shayji, a Sunni Islamist and a U.S.-trained 
engineer 
- Abdullah Al--Azmi, a tribal two-time former member of the 
Council 
- Mohammed Majed Bouredden Al-Mutairi, a tribal former deputy 
chairman of the Khaitan Cooperative society 
- Majed Moussa Abdel Rahman Al-Mutairi, a tribal former 
member of the Municipal Council 
- Askar Al-Enezi, a tribal bureaucrat and the youngest member 
of the Council at 34 
- Fahaid Saad Mubarak Al-Ajmi, a tribal former member of the 
Council 
- Zayed Ayesh Al-Azmi, a tribal bureaucrat with the Interior 
Ministry 
 
6. (U) The six appointed members are: 
- Shaykha Fatima bint Nasser Al-Sabah, an engineer and sister 
to former Minister and Ambassador to the U.S. Shaykh Saud 
Nasser Al-Sabah, who until her appointment was the Assistant 
Undersecretary for Engineering Affairs at the Amiri Diwan 
- Fawziya bint Mohammed Ahmed AbdelRahman Al-Bahar, who spent 
29 years working as an engineer in the Ministry of 
Electricity and Water (Note: The Ministries of Electricity 
and Oil were consolidated into the Energy Ministry in 2003 
End Note.) 
- Salah Fahad Al-As'ousi earned an M.S. in Logistics Science 
and was the head of the expropriation committee in the Kuwait 
Municipality 
- Khaled Al-Khaled, a lawyer and a member of the Kuwait 
Chamber of Commerce and Industry 
- Adel Al-Khorafi, a civil engineer, chairman of the Kuwait 
Society of Engineers, and also a cousin to National Assembly 
Speaker Jassem Al-Khorafi 
- Abdul Rahman Al-Humaidan, a lawyer and chairman of the 
Kuwaiti bar Association 
 
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LEBARON