KUWAIT CITY, Oct 13: The Kuwaiti cabinet on Sunday approved a bill calling for granting the emirate’s disenfranchised women the right to vote and to run in municipal elections.

Kuwait’s deputy premier and state minister for cabinet affairs Mohammad Sharar said in a statement that the proposal came in a new municipality draft law which stipulated that women would have the right to vote and contest elections and be appointed in the municipal council.

The bill must be approved by Kuwait’s elected parliament and endorsed by Amir Sheikh Jaber al-Ahmad al-Sabah to become law.

The 50-member parliament dominated by Islamists and tribal MPs has in the past rejected government-sponsored draft laws to grant women the right to vote and run for public offices.

The municipal council, which does not have legislative powers, consists of 16 members, six of them appointed by the government.