The opposition, a loose alliance comprising Islamists, liberals and nationalists, now has 33 seats in the 50-seat parliament, a gain of four, with Sunni Islamists faring best.

Commentators considered the result of Thursday's polls an outright defeat for the government of this oil-rich Gulf Arab state.

The opposition needs 33 seats to claim an absolute majority in the chamber, because 15 of the 16 cabinet ministers are ex-officio members who have the right to vote despite being unelected, thus taking the house membership to 65.

The opposition's resounding victory could prompt authorities to drop ministers deemed objectionable by the new opposition MPs, as one of their few powers is that of voting ministers out of office.

The Kuwaiti parliament has legislative and monitoring powers and can also quiz the prime minister.

Under Kuwaiti law, at least one minister must be an elected lawmaker.

The cabinet will resign on Saturday and the new government must be formed within two weeks, after which parliament will open its term.

Sunni Islamist groups and their supporters clinched 17 seats, up from 14 in the previous chamber, with wins for all five candidates of the Islamic Constitutional Movement, the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Liberals and their supporters, who fared badly in the 2003 polls, were reduced to six seats in the new house, down from eight.

Twenty-one of the 28 opposition MPs in the previous house who bid to retain their seats were reelected and 12 new opposition candidates won seats, while eight of the 16 pro-government MPs were defeated.

The opposition can now count on up to 33 votes, but two of the MPs elected on Thursday and categorized with the opposition could switch alliances in the house depending on the issue at stake.

Prominent losers include two former commerce and industry ministers, Yussef al-Zalzalah and Salah Khorshid, both members of the Shiite Muslim minority whose representation was cut to four seats from five in the previous parliament.

Tribal candidates won 26 seats. Ten of them are Islamists, while the rest are either pro-government or independents.

No female candidate was elected in the first ever participation by women in a legislative election in the conservative emirate.

Prominent activist Rula Dashti fared the best among female candidates, scoring 1,539 votes and finishing in fifth place in one constituency, while former information ministry official Nabila al-Anjari got 1,036. The two male winners in these constituencies won around 5,000 votes each.

Kuwaiti women turned out in force to vote after a heated campaign focused on electoral reform and corruption.

Women voters, who represented 57 percent of the eligible electorate, rushed to queue outside polling stations early Thursday, but then slowed down and overall women turnout was estimated at between 55 and 65 percent.

At least 36 of the new MPs have publicly announced their backing for a bill calling for the number of constituencies to be slashed to five from the current 25.

The dispute over this issue led to the dissolution of the previous parliament in May.

Outgoing speaker Jassem al-Khorafi, a government ally, and veteran opposition figure and three-time former speaker Ahmad al-Saadun retained their seats.

Opposition supporters celebrated their election victory by singing and setting off fireworks in the early hours of Friday.

According to official figures, Kuwait sits on 10 percent of global oil reserves and is pumping 2.5 million barrels a day. It has a native population of one million, besides two million foreigners.

The emirate has huge foreign assets estimated at 150 billion dollars.