Rola Dashti, front row, right, and other women rights activists follow the debate about granting women rights to vote during the Parliament session of Monday, May 2, 2005 in Kuwait City.

Kuwait’s interior ministry said on Saturday that there are 14 women out of 287 candidates running in the parliamentary elections scheduled on Nov. 26.

The number of women is the second lowest figure since they were allowed to vote as well as run in parliamentary elections.

While women had the right to vote when polling was first introduced in Kuwait in 1985, this right was later scrapped. But in 2005, Kuwaiti women were re-granted the right to vote.

In 2009, women won four seats for the first time since they obtained the right to vote.

Initially, 455 people registered their names in Kuwait’s five electoral districts. The number was down to 287 as candidates later withdrew from the race, while 40 were barred by the committee tasked to verify eligibility.

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