( dpa ) - Kuwaiti Minister of Education Noureya al-Sabeeh on Tuesday won a vote of confidence in parliament after she was called to answer to accusations of poor performance.
Afterward, al-Sabeeh, the first woman to hold the education portfolio, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that the vote marked a success in parliament after a long political crisis.
"I couldn't have predicted if I will win the vote of confidence, because the parliamentary questioning is a democratic political practice, in which members could change their opinions about me in the last minute," al-Sabeeh said.
On January 8, the parliament questioned al-Sabeeh over accusations that she failed to enforce a gender separation law in schools and colleges, performed poorly and committed other legal violations.
She strongly defended herself during the nine-hour session, which had been requested by the Islamic Bloc member of parliament, Saad al- Sharai.
On Tuesday, 27 out of 48 MPs voted for al-Sabeeh, with some Islamist MPs among those siding with her.
Nineteen MPs voted for a no-confidence motion and two members abstained.
Al-Sabeeh is the first female minister to face and survive a parliamentary questioning in Kuwait. She was appointed to the cabinet in March 2007 after serving as a senior official in the ministry of education for more than 20 years.
Over the past two years, Kuwait has been facing a political crisis, in which the parliament was dissolved and new elections were launched in 2006. A major cabinet reshuffle was carried out in 2007.