Kuwait Prepares Parliament Elections Scheduled in February
Kuwait is preparing for parliament elections, scheduled to be held on February 2nd. These fourth legislative election in six years followed the dissolution decreed by the Emir of Kuwait Sheik Sabah al-Ahmed al-Jaber al-Sabah after the resignation of the Prime Minister Nasser Mohammed Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah accused of corruption by the opposition. The resignation of the Prime Minister, demanded by the opposition, revealed an evolution in the kingdom. “Ultimately there is something at stake for Kuwait over the long term and that’s the possibility of moving in the direction of a constitutional monarchy,” said Nathan J. Brown, Professor of Political Sciences at George Washington University. However, some former Members of Parliament have called for a boycott of the elections in response to a decision by the interior ministry to disqualify some 14 candidates, including Islamist ex-opposition MP Faisal al-Mislem. More than 300 candidates, including about 20 women, have registered to contest the election for the 50-seat parliament.
For the first time in the Kuwait’s elections history, 30 international observers will be allowed to monitor the voting process. The observers will be conducted by the NGO Arab Network for Election Democracy. The Head of the Kuwait Transparency Society Salah Al-Shammari said that foreign and local monitors will be allowed free access to polling stations, and report any violations to the authorities. In addition, the Kuwait News Agency announced that 2012 legislative elections will be the first to be supervised by an election monitoring committee. The aims of the committee are to fight bribery and preserve integrity of the electoral process.
Meanwhile, according to Taher al-Baghli, an activist from the Kuwait Society for Human Rights, riot police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse protesters who claimed the Gulf nation is depriving them of citizenship and rights. The protesters were mostly descendants of desert nomads who are considered stateless by Kuwait.
