KUWAIT CITY, April 4 (UPI) -- Women in Kuwait have been allowed to vote for the first time in the oil-rich Arab state's history.
Two women were also running as candidates for a legislative seat in a district south of the capital Kuwait City, reports the BBC.
Of 28,000 eligible voters, about 60 percent are women, although they must vote in segregated polling booths in compliance with a pre-condition set by Islamist lawmakers.
Equal political rights were granted last year to Kuwaiti women, who will vote in full legislative ballots next year.
Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser al-Muhammad al-Sabah said on Tuesday that women suffrage raises his nation's international prominence. Tribal leaders and Islamists had for years tried to block the change.
Kuwait's first women candidates are 32-year-old engineer Jenan Boushehri, and 48-year-old Khalida Khader, a physician with eight children.
