Kuwaitis elect their Parliament on Tuesday (June 6th) in the seventh general election since 2012 in this oil-rich Gulf state undermined by repeated political crises. More than 793,000 voters are being called to the polls to choose 50 new MPs, after the invalidation of the September 2022 elections. Some 207 people, including 13 women, are running: never in 20 years has a general election brought together so few candidates. Polling stations will open at 08:00 local time (05 GMT) and close twelve hours later. The results will be announced on Wednesday, according to the official KUNA news agency.
Fearing high abstention, authorities put up large banners in the streets of the capital calling on citizens to vote en masse. Despite the general fatigue, human rights activist Hadeel Buqrais says she will go to the polls. "To boycott would be to renounce my rights (...) I have to participate, even if I don't expect the new parliament to tackle the issues" related to human rights, she told AFP.
An influential Parliament
Although the keys to power remain largely in the hands of the ruling Al Sabah family, Kuwait has an active political life and an influential parliament, unlike other monarchies in the region. Elected officials thus have important prerogatives, do not hesitate to hold accountable ministers who are part of the royal family and who are accused of mismanagement or even corruption. But this permanent tug-of-war between the executive and parliamentarians has resulted in a waltz of governments and the dissolution of the Assembly many times over the past decade.
In March, the Constitutional Court invalidated the 2022 parliamentary elections, ruling in favour of restoring the previous parliament, which emerged from the 2020 elections. These two legislative elections were won by the opposition, particularly Islamist, which boycotted the elections for ten years, until 2022, to denounce the interference of the executive power in the electoral process. In early April, the small monarchy formed its seventh government in three years. But a few days later, the Emir of Kuwait dissolved Parliament and called for new legislative elections. Emir Nawaf al-Ahmad al-Sabah, 85, usually stays away from political life in favor of the 82-year-old crown prince, Meshaal al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah.
30% of GDP depends on hydrocarbons
The 4.5 million inhabitants of this small country regularly complain about the deterioration of infrastructure and public services in the country. "Kuwait is not doing well," said Bader Al-Saif, a professor at Kuwait University, for whom elections "are not the only solution". "The political system urgently needs innovation," he said, denouncing "the lack of leadership in the Kuwaiti political class, whose actors vary little, whether within the government or parliament."
The country, whose nearly 30 percent of GDP depends on the hydrocarbon sector, holds nearly 7 percent of the world's crude oil reserves and is one of the world's leading oil exporters. But political instability has dampened investors' appetite for Kuwait and hampered much-needed reforms. A situation that contrasts with that of its powerful neighbors in the Gulf, which multiply pharaonic projects.
