Kuwait Elected Its New Parliament But With Low Turnout

Kuwait elected its parliament which might prove to be government-friendly than the previous one. However, it faced low voter turnout as well as opposition boycott. Around 39 percent of the 422569 eligible voters had cast their ballots on 2 December 2012. However, it wasn’t evident whether these figures included any invalid voters as well or not.

Opposition believed that the participation of voters was lower than this. In the previous three elections, the turnout of voters was 60 percent.

On 1 December 2012, the election process was troublesome because there was a change to the rules of voting process announced six weeks ago by ruling emir, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah. The ruling emir had brought down the votes number per citizen from four to one.

The opposition in Kuwait refuted standing in these elections on the grounds that new system of one-vote per citizen would put off their candidates from winning that majority which they enjoyed in last vote in February 2012. In February 2012 elections, they had won two-third out of 50 seats in National Assembly.

Political parties have been put on ban in Kuwait and association of a lot of those who were standing in these elections was very unclear.

It is important to note that Kuwait, which is the ally of US, has the most transparent political system among various Gulf Arab states that have parliament with legislative powers as well as ability to hold ministers accountable.