Kuwaitis are voting to elect a new national parliament for the second time in two years, after a political crisis prompted the government to resign.

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Correspondents say the election in the oil-rich Gulf state has been dominated by economic concerns such as inflation, high oil prices and a weak dollar.

About 360,000 Kuwaitis are eligible to vote. More than half of them are women.

But expatriates, who make up the majority of Kuwait's 2.9 million population, are not allowed to vote, neither are military personnel.

Polls opened at 0800 (0500 GMT) and will close 2000 (1700 GMT), with the first results expected early on Sunday morning.

Period of mourning

A total of 275 candidates are running for the 50 seats in the National Assembly.

Twenty-seven candidates are women, who were first given the right to vote and run for public office in 2005 but failed to win any seats in the last election in 2006.

The poll instead resulted in a loose alliance of reformists and Islamists securing nearly two-thirds of the seats in parliament.

Reformist candidates are hoping that the reduction in electoral districts from 25 to 5 will make it harder both for their rivals to buy votes and be elected by a small number of voters exclusively from their tribe or sect.

The BBC's Julia Wheeler in Dubai says that rising food and commodity prices have been at the top of the agenda for many Kuwaitis ahead of Saturday's vote.

Kuwait may sit on 10% of the world's oil reserves - a commodity currently selling at record prices - but as a small desert state it is obliged to import most of its food, our correspondent says.

The oil price is denominated in a weak dollar, but about a third of imports are paid for with the strong euro, affecting ordinary people on a daily basis, she adds.

Election campaigning came to a halt earlier this week with mourning for the former Emir, Sheikh Saad al-Abdullah al-Sabah, who died on Tuesday.

Last minute campaign rallies, traditionally held in huge tents, had to be cancelled, but the government said it was determined not to postpone the election itself.

(BBC)

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