Tip of the hat to The Emirates Economist for letting me know about this item. Two weeks ago, the parliament voted 24-20 to give women the right to vote in municipal elections. This was heralded as a great first step, but skepticism still remained. And for good reason. The bill failed to pass the second round of voting.

Kuwait City: A Bill granting Kuwaiti women the right to vote and contest in municipal council elections failed to pass muster in the second round in the parliament yesterday.

The Bill was passed in principle by the parliament on April 19.

However, during yesterday’s crucial second round voting out of the 60 lawmakers present, 29 voted for the Bill, while 29 conservative MPs abstained and two members rejected the law. All 13 ministers voted for the Bill.

Speaker Jasem Al Kharafi declared after the vote that the Bill was neither approved nor rejected and that another vote must be taken to break the deadlock. No date was set for the new vote.

Prime Minister Shaikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah said after the session, there will be another vote because the house’s vote did not kill the Bill, but postponed it.

Parliament Deputy Speaker Mishari Al Anjari said he was not sure if there would be a vote.

Those abstaining included Islamist and tribal conservatives trying to avoid angering the government, which supports the measure, by voting no and to avoid angering constituents with a yes.

This is very sad, but with enough pressure, this bill can still pass. In fact, had they garnered just two more votes, it would have gone into law. I don’t think it will be long before enough votes are lobbied.