2013 Kuwaiti general election
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50 of the 65 seats in the National Assembly | ||
Turnout | 51.9% ( 12.3pp) |
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Member State of the Arab League |
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Constitution |
Kuwait portal |
Early general elections were held in
Background
Early elections had been held in December 2012 after the National Assembly
According to the constitution, elections had to be held within 60 days of the dissolution on 16 June. They were originally scheduled for 25 July, but were later postponed due to delays in the candidate registration process; the electoral law required registration had to start a month before the election, but the cabinet put process on hold whilst it waited for the Constitutional Court to publish the reasons for ruling that dissolved the previous National Assembly.[5]
Campaign
The secular National Democratic Alliance announced that it would contest the elections after boycotting the December 2012 elections. However, other liberal parties, together with nationalist groups said they would boycott the July elections.[2]
Results
According to the
Party | Votes | % | Seats | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Independent (Sunni and Shia) | 36 | |||
Liberals | 9 | |||
Women | 2 | |||
Sunni Islamist | 3 | |||
Total | 50 | |||
Total votes | 228,314 | – | ||
Registered voters/turnout | 439,911 | 51.90 | ||
Source: IPU,[10] Kuwait Politics Database[11] |
Aftermath
Following the elections,
Candidate | Party | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Marzouq Al-Ghanim | Independent | 36 | 58.06 | |
Ali Al-Rashid | Independent | 18 | 29.03 | |
Roudhan Al-Roudhan | Independent | 8 | 12.90 | |
Ali al-Omair | Independent | 0 | 0.00 | |
Total | 62 | 100.00 | ||
Valid votes | 62 | 98.41 | ||
Invalid/blank votes | 1 | 1.59 | ||
Total votes | 63 | 100.00 | ||
Registered voters/turnout | 65 | 96.92 |
References
- ^ "Kuwait cabinet sets parliamentary vote for July 27" Reuters, 26 June 2013
- ^ a b c Kuwait's main liberal group to take part in polls Ahram Online, 17 June 2013
- ^ a b Kuwait election: Shia candidates suffer at polls BBC News, 28 July 2013
- Carnegie Endowment.
As a result, the divided members of the opposition rendered themselves obsolete as the country witnessed a 52.5 percent voter turnout in the July 2013 election—up from the boycotted 40 percent, and 7.5 percentage points shy of the last non-boycotted election.
- ^ Kuwait polls likely to be postponed Gulf News, 25 June 2013
- ^ a b "Kuwait's conservative tribes make election gains". Associated Press. 28 July 2013. Archived from the original on 29 October 2013. Retrieved 27 October 2013.
Liberal lawmakers seeking greater social and political freedoms gained at least six seats, the results showed.
- ^ a b "Kuwait: Security, Reform, and U.S. Policy" (PDF). Congressional Research Service. 30 August 2013. p. 10.
- ^ "The Danger to Kuwait is Authoritarianism".
The Shia currently hold 10 out of 50 seats in the National Assembly and have generally served as a bulwark against the opposition since 2008.
- ^ a b "Kuwait Politics Database" (in Arabic). Archived from the original on 18 May 2015. Retrieved 21 April 2015.
- ^ "Kuwait Majles Al-Ommah (National Assembly) - Elections in 2013". Inter-Parliamentary Union. 27 July 2013. Retrieved 14 April 2023.
- ^ "Elections 2013". Kuwait Politics Database (in Arabic). 10 July 2013. Archived from the original on 10 July 2013. Retrieved 13 April 2023.