Kuwait’s Elite Electorate Feasts on New Democracy : Persian Gulf: Party atmosphere greets voters in newest symbol of liberation, but women aren’t invited.

Young Bedouin voters knelt in afternoon prayer beside cordless telephones. Campaign workers in flowing white robes huddled over computer printouts in parking lots festooned with posters, high-tech Winnebagos and tents; others manned polling booths, offering last-minute lamb buffets and fancy computer-graphics displays Monday to the stream of Kuwait’s elite electorate.

A small group of women marched in silent protest against the all-male balloting. One Kuwaiti spoke openly of how he had sold his vote for $700; still other young people spoke passionately about the new brand of Islamic fundamentalism now likely to assume a large role in the oil-rich sheikdom’s future.

These were images from an election that has become the newest symbol of Kuwait’s liberation. Government radio called it “the wedding feast of democracy.”

And as results of Monday’s crucial elections for the 50-member National Assembly were tallied early today, it was clear that Kuwait’s 81,440 male voters had brought to power faces both old and new.

With about half the Assembly seats officially declared this morning, the emirate’s organized and outspoken opposition that campaigned for political and social reform had won several key, unexpected victories. Among the victors were the former Speaker of Kuwait’s last, ill-fated Parliament and the leader of the left-leaning Kuwait Democratic Forum.

Similarly dramatic triumphs were scored by an array of candidates linked to two Islamic groups that also had campaigned for democratic reform. And at least one prominent pro-government candidate was defeated.

Election officials continued counting the remaining ballots one by one well into the morning. But political analysts said the overall trend already indicated that the new Parliament--which will be proclaimed later today--was emerging as an eclectic mix of conservative Islamic fundamentalists, a solid core group of vocal leftist reformers and a smaller-than-expected bloc of old-guard politicians almost certain to protect Kuwait’s pro-West ruling monarchy.

Several opposition winners said in election-night interviews that the critical test will come in the next two weeks when Crown Prince Sheik Saad al Abdullah al Sabah, who doubles as prime minister, appoints his new Cabinet. Many in the opposition may well demand that he share these posts of power equally with the new elected leaders in hopes of ushering in an era of checks and balances on a government traditionally appointed by the monarchy.

“If the Cabinet is formed in the same old way, it will accomplish nothing,” said Hamad Jouen, an opposition leader crippled in an assassination attempt last year. He won by a landslide in an election in which a few votes separated winners and losers. “It means they do not really believe in democracy and that there will be confrontation between the government and Parliament, just like before”--a reference to the last opposition-led Assembly. It was abolished within a year of its election in 1985.

There also were strong, lingering concerns over Kuwait’s internal security, a key election issue for most voters. Kuwaiti voters said they fear continuing friction between the emirate’s many factions at a time when most also remain deeply afraid of an Iraqi regime that continues to claim ownership of Kuwait despite being routed from the country last year by a Western coalition force.

There also were isolated charges of vote-buying in outlying towns, a staple of Kuwaiti politics in Bedouin areas where less-educated people live. Aziz Dashti, a 31-year-old unemployed voter, said he took 200 dinars (about $700) from workers for a pro-government candidate, explaining, “A candidate who wins gets so many privileges, why not sell my vote and get some too?”

As a whole, the election was peaceful, free and fair--a rare exercise in a region dominated by dictators and autocrats. Most diplomats and Kuwaiti analysts agreed that Kuwait’s first experiment in democracy since its liberation was a successful return to its tradition as a democratic oasis in the Persian Gulf; that image was tarnished when the Assembly was dissolved six years ago.

Most experts added that the eclectic Parliament taking shape today will--at least in the short term--be largely pro-West, pro-reform and yet loyal to the Sabah family that has ruled the emirate for nearly three centuries.

Such optimism came despite one of the election’s most striking trends--an impressive showing by candidates who identified themselves as Islamic fundamentalists, through speeches or by joining with political “groupings” such as the Islamic Constitutional Movement and the Islamic Popular Coalition. (Political parties are still banned in Kuwait.)

At least a dozen Islamists were leading in today’s late tallies; all have vowed to bury internal differences to change one word in Kuwait’s 30-year-old constitution and to make the fundamentalist system of Sharia law “the main source of legislation” in an emirate that already appears deeply devout on the surface.

Alcohol has long been forbidden in Kuwait, where Islam is deep-rooted. The nation’s laws already deny women suffrage, despite their many contributions to the resistance to Iraq and the vow of most candidates to grant such voting rights in the new Parliament. (Only males over 21 who can trace their ancestry back 72 years are allowed to vote, limiting the voting pool to about 81,500 men from a population of 650,000 Kuwaitis.)

The Assembly elected Monday may well try to alter Kuwait’s penal system, replacing Napoleonic law with Sharia, which calls for punishing offenders with floggings, amputations or hangings.

What is more, some analysts fear that the fundamentalist bloc ultimately may join forces with leftist reformists from the Kuwait Democratic Forum to target the power of the emirate’s ruling monarchy.

The sheikdom’s constitution declares that the ruling emir, Sheik Jabbar al Ahmed al Sabah, is Kuwait’s undisputed chief of state--an article no opposition leader has said he wants to change. But the crown prince has used his unchecked power to appoint the Cabinet unilaterally.