Kuwait: Candidates Disqualified from February Elections

Kuwait’s Interior Ministry said 14 candidates have been banned from running in parliamentary elections scheduled for February 2^nd. Among the candidates, former Member of Parliament Faisal al-Muslim was “not fulfilling the legal conditions for candidate” according to a statement from the interior ministry. Earlier, al-Muslim questioned a head of government in parliament when he grilled former premier Sheikh Nasser Mohammad al-Ahmad Al-Sabah in 2009 on charges he issued a $700,000 check to a former MP. The bank later charged Muslim with fabricating the charges, and under Kuwaiti electoral law, people convicted on charges relating to a lack of honesty or integrity are barred from contesting parliamentary elections unless they have been rehabilitated. The opposition expressed concerns against the Ministry decision to ban al-Muslim claiming that it was a breach of parliament immunity.

U.S. State Department Spokesperson Victoria Nuland declared that “disqualified candidates have the right to challenge this decision in the courts,” and added that the State Department “looks forward to seeing a diverse field of candidates taking part in free, fair and transparent elections.”