Kuwait: With record participation rates that reflected the level of popular optimism in the coming stage, the results of the Kuwaiti National Assembly elections for the 17th legislative term resulted in a significant change in the parliament’s composition, reaching 54 percent.
The names of several deputies of the last parliament were uprooted, with the arrival of 26 new deputies for the first time to Abdullah Al-Salem’s hall in Parliament, in addition to the registration of the return of women with two seats, and the change was not limited to deputies but affected the elected ministers, 3 of whom lost their seats.
According to preliminary estimates by the Kuwaiti Ministry of Interior, the participation rate exceeded 65 percent, which reflects everyone’s desire for change. With the increase in youth support, community awareness and desire for change, Kuwaiti women succeeded in regaining their electoral seat in the “Nation 2022”.
After she was absent from the 2020 assembly, the second constituency candidate, Alia Al-Khaled, came in eighth place with 2,365 votes, while Janan Boushahri came in fourth in the third constituency with 4,321 votes. In the fourth constituency, Modi Al-Mutairi garnered a high number of 2,606 votes, but she did not win the elections.
The elections witnessed the victory of 26 new deputies, most of them young men, as 6 deputies won in the first district, 6 in the second, 5 new deputies in the third, 5 in the fourth district, and 4 in the fifth, which reflects the people’s will to bring new blood in the elections. The council is able to realize the aspirations of Kuwaitis in achieving reforms and developing the country.
The tribal seats were also reduced from 29 deputies to 22, and in the end, 24 deputies from the previous assembly retained their seats. One of the most prominent figures who swept the elections by winning first place in his (third) constituency is Ahmed Al-Saadoun, and 12 deputies from previous councils won, noting that 7 of the 2020 council members did not run in the last elections, and they are Adnan Abdul-Samad.
Abdullah Al-Tariji, Marzouq Al-Ghanim, Salman Al-Hulaila, Youssef Al-Fadala, Saud Busalib and Nasser Al-Dosari, while a precedent was recorded in the Kuwaiti National Assembly elections, where the two candidates Marzouq Al-Khalifa (Fourth Constituency) and Hamid Al-Bathali (Second Constituency) were able to win the parliament’s membership despite their presence in prison.
They are serving their sentences in the implementation of two prison sentences against them in a by-election case. Kuwaiti sources confirmed that legally, the winners remain in prison until the ruling is judicially amended by the Court of Cassation. The change was not limited to the deputies but also affected the elected ministers, 3 of whom lost their seats, which proves the rule that the ministerial seat represents a loss for the deputy.
