The opposition won 29 MP seats out of 50 and thus emerged stronger from the legislative elections in Kuwait, we learned on Wednesday. It was the seventh poll in ten years in the oil-rich Gulf state.
The opposition, in particular Islamist, has strengthened its majority in the legislative elections in Kuwait, the seventh in a decade in this rich oil state of the Gulf where only one woman was elected deputy, according to the results published on Wednesday June 7.
Unlike other countries in the region, Kuwait has a dynamic political life. Some deputies do not hesitate to take on ministers from the ruling family of Al-Sabah, which retains the levers of power.
This permanent showdown has led to the resignation of several governments and the dissolution of Parliament on numerous occasions, plunging the country into a political crisis.
The opposition won 29 MP seats out of 50, including 12 Islamists and a former minister who was re-elected, according to Tuesday’s election results published by the official Kuna news agency.
The new Parliament is essentially made up of the same figures as the previous one, with the exception of 12 deputies, including young reformers, some claiming to be from the opposition, who are entering the assembly.
In March, the Constitutional Court had invalidated the legislative elections of 2022, ruling in favor of the restoration of the previous Parliament, resulting from the 2020 election. These two elections had been won by the opposition.
Read also Sick of its “democracy”, Kuwait tries to get out of the stalemate
Seven governments in three years
At the beginning of April, the small monarchy had formed its seventh government in three years, and a few days later, the emir had dissolved the Parliament and summoned new legislative ones.
Opposition MP Adel Al-Damkhi welcomed “the reformist turn” that Parliament has just taken. “The election results show the awareness of the Kuwaiti people,” he told AFP.
Janane Bouchehri, the only MP, who retains her seat for a third term, told AFP she hoped that the new Parliament would work for “stability” and to “advance political and economic issues”. Two women sat in the previous Parliament.
Political tensions have hampered needed reforms in the country, which has an undiversified economy, a situation that contrasts with that of its powerful neighbors, such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
This instability has dampened investors’ appetite for Kuwait, yet one of the world’s leading oil exporters, with nearly 7% of the world’s crude reserves.
With AFP
Source: France 24
