"Marking a new beginning for the State of Kuwait, Kuwaitis voted to re-elect the National Assembly on 27 July, 2013. This development comes after the annulment of December 2012 election results by the Constitutional Court. The participation in these elections was better than last time with an average turnout of 52.5 percent. The results of these elections were released on 28 July 2013; with the liberals gaining 3 seats in the parliament as opposed to none in previous elections, Shiites winning just 8 seats which is a record low for them as they had 17 seats in the last parliament, Sunni Islamists won 7 seats and tribal groups won big with 24 seats. Parliamentary re-elections have become a common occurrence in Kuwait. These elections marked the sixth time that the National Assembly was re-elected in last seven years. After elections, the parliament is supposed to be in term for four years but the same has not been possible as it is usually dissolved by the Constitutional Court before completion of its term. In such circumstances, the people of Kuwait find themselves going to polls more often than what would be considered normal in another democratic nation. This situation brings to mind many questions, the most important being, will the Kuwait National Assembly be lucky the sixth time? In order to determine the answer to that, it is important to look into challenges that threaten political stability in Kuwait.
The parliament of Kuwait, known as the Majlis al-Umma, was established in 1963. The Amir from Kuwait's 250 year old ruling Al- Sabah family is head of the State and appoints the government. Significant participation is registered in Kuwait during elections that take place regularly and it makes Kuwait the most democratic Gulf State. The dissolution of parliament and shortcomings in the electoral framework in Kuwait are inter-related. In recent years, causes of dissolution of parliament have been issues with counting and aggregation of votes, division of electoral districts, and dispute over electoral law.
There are five electorates with 10 seats in each and thus, a total of 50 seats in the National Assembly. The government has been accused of manipulation of election outcomes by introduction of a new electoral law, according to which Kuwaiti citizens can now caste a vote for just one candidate as opposed to four. Earlier, each citizen would caste a vote for four candidates and ten candidates with the highest votes would then get selected from each electoral district. The recent elections took place under this new electoral law. This change has reduced the choice of citizens to a great extent. The opposition had argued that reduction in the number of candidates will encourage Kuwaiti citizens to vote based on tribal or sectarian lines. Due to implementation of this electoral law six weeks before the December 2012 elections, turnout in those elections was an estimated 43%, the lowest in Kuwait's electoral history.
The government has also been accused of failure in taking action against the problem of vote buying by many candidates. Third constituency candidate Abdulmajeed Khuraibet had recently announced his withdrawal from elections "because of the spread of political money at unprecedented levels". It is very important that the government of Kuwait address these issues for political stability in Kuwait.
The instability with regard to parliamentary elections has also been blamed for hindering economic development of the State. The troubled relationship between the parliament and government is also the reason for many stalled infrastructure projects and economic reforms like Project Kuwait which was introduced in 1997 and aimed to double oil outputs in the less developed northern oil fields and Project K-Dow with the aim of becoming a leading producer of petrochemicals and plastics. Both projects have been on hold since years and show no signs of resuming.
Looking at political instability in Kuwait from the development perspective, the question of whether democracy is culturally appropriate for the Gulf can be raised. Economically, Kuwait lags behind its neighbour Dubai, which has an authoritarian regime. Is it possible for Kuwait to be a successful democracy with steady economic growth? Does this mean a choice has to be made by Kuwait between democracy and economic growth? Whether it will come to that will depend on the measures taken by Kuwait to deal with political challenges that face the State.
Need for reforms
There is scope for possible reforms in Kuwait that may change the repeated practice of dissolving the parliament. There is no legal framework in Kuwait for registration of political parties and political groups operate mainly as loose factions of individuals. It has been argued that a law that allows formation of political parties will help in prevention of pursuit of narrow interests by independent candidates who stand in elections. It is open to speculation how the public will react to such a law if it were to be implemented. According to a report by Kuwait Transparency Society, the Kuwaiti public may not be very receptive towards such a law as the concept of political parties in Kuwait has a negative connotation due to one party regime in Syria and role of political parties in Lebanon's civil war.
Another important measure that needs to be implemented is transparency in terms of counting and aggregation of votes and investigation into allegations of corruption. There is also the issue of dissolution of parliament. The dissolution of parliament is a step that should be a last resort instead of part of a routine where every time there is a dispute between the parliament and government, it is implemented. Negotiations and other alternative means of finding solution to disputes should be encouraged.
In an article titled, "The Day After "Victory": Kuwait's 2009 Election and the Contentious Present" by Mary Ann Tétreault and Mohammed Al-Ghanim, the authors have noted that on numerous occasions conflicts between government and parliament have threatened authority of the ruling Al Sabah family and the family's unwillingness to share power is the cause of many issues. The parliament and government need to settle tensions between them in order to restore confidence of public in the parliamentary process. In order to do the same, issue of sharing of power needs to be taken into account and laws regarding dissolution of parliament need to be more clearly defined.
Addressing and reforming Kuwait's electoral and political issues is an important step towards bringing political stability in the State but there are other societal dimensions that need to be considered for effective results. There is an ongoing struggle between the al-Jaber and the al-Salem branches of the ruling al-Sabah family which has resulted in frequent cabinet reshuffles and resignations several times. This division often acts as an obstacle in stability of the country's governing institutions.
Another interesting position is of the 'immigrants' who have failed to attain the status of naturalised citizens despite living in Kuwait for many generations. These non-citizens do not participate in elections and do not play any important political role in the country.
The religious and socially heterogeneous nature of society in Kuwait is also significant. The majority comprises about 70% Sunni Muslims and 30% Shia Muslims. There have been tensions between the two groups with Sunnis questioning Shia loyalty to the State and Shia groups complaining of discrimination within the State especially in terms of parliamentary representation. Another critical distinction is between the urban population 'Hadhar' and tribes that live in the outskirts of the city called the 'Bedoon' tribe. The Bedoon tribe does not even have basic citizenship rights and are living without nationality. They are stateless. When Kuwait became independent in 1961, Bedoons did not apply for citizenship as they did not understand its importance at the time and many were illiterate so they could not produce required documents. Today, the stateless condition of Bedoons has become a human rights concern for many international organisations as they have to struggle for basic rights like employment and education that other Kuwait citizens enjoy freely.
As mentioned above, there are many socio-political concerns that come in the way of political and economic stability in Kuwait. It is not just a question of electoral reforms but overall economic, political and social development. Other than some necessary electoral and political reforms, rights of Bedoon tribe, Shia-Sunni issues, sharing of power between government and parliament and amongst factions of the al-Sabah family are all critical factors that will have an impact not just on political and economic stability of Kuwait but future of democracy in the Gulf. Assessing the current socio-political scenario of the country, it seems likely that inaction on the government's part with regard to these challenges will be detrimental for future of the new parliament that was elected on 27 July, 2013. It is due to the lack of necessary changes that the parliament is dissolved every few months after elections and this cycle is likely to continue if electoral reforms along with economic, political and social reforms are not introduced by the government.
(The writer is a Research Intern at Observer Research Foundation, Delhi)
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