Region watches as Kuwait votes to revive democracy

Kuwait voted Monday in an election which restores parliamentary democracy after a four-year break and which candidates said could have a decisive influence on political freedom in other Persian Gulf oil states. Sheikh Nawaf al-Ahmad al-Sabah, the interior minister, said the turnout had been heavy throughout Kuwait. None of the other Gulf states have an elected parliament and candidates said they felt the success or failure of their 50-member assembly would affect the chan ces of political freedom elsewhere in the region.