Kuwait City — Kuwaitis did not elect a single woman candidate in the country's first parliamentary vote open to women, but reformists scored a victory that could dramatically increase friction between the parliament and the Cabinet appointed by the ruling family.
None of the 27 women who ran against 222 men for the parliament's 50 seats emerged with a win, according to official results released Friday, a day after women cast ballots for the first time in parliamentary elections.
Although winners were announced in all races, complete vote tallies were not. But newspapers reported that the highest polling woman was Rola Dashti, a U.S.-educated economist, followed by Nabeela al-Anjari, a former information ministry official.
Thirty-six of the incoming legislators have spoken in favor of electoral reform - the issue that led the country's emir to dissolve parliament last month and call the elections. In the last assembly, 29 legislators endorsed electoral reform.
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