AMBASSADOR CONGRATULATES NEW MUNICIPAL COUNCIL

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 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