National Assembly: Democracy on display
KUWAIT: The 11th legislative term of parliament had an election involving 288 candidates and 327,287 eligible voters. It was held on June 29, 2006, in 25 constituencies. The first session was held on July 12, 2006, but the parliament did not finish the term and was dissolved on March 19, 2008. On July 17, 2008, elections for the 12th legislative term of parliament had 275 candidates running with 361,684 eligible voters from five constituencies. The first session was held on June 1, 2008. The house was dissolved on March 18, 2009.
The 13th legislative term’s elections were held on May 16, 2009, with 210 candidates running with 384,790 eligible voters from five constituencies. The 13th legislative term saw the victory of four women for the first time in Kuwait’s history: Dr. Maasouma Al-Mubarak, Dr. Rola Dashti, Dr. Aseel Al-Awadhi, and Dr. Salwa Al-Jassar. The first session of the term was held on May 31, 2009, and the parliament was dissolved on December 6, 2011.
Elections were held on February 2, 2012, to elect members of parliament for the 14th legislative term, with 210 candidates from five constituencies and 400,296 eligible voters. The House held its first session on February 15, 2012, but the Constitutional Court considered a ruling on June 20, 2012, void because of irregularities in a decree that dissolved the 2009 parliament, and the court reinstated it. Elections for the 14th legislative term were held on December 1, 2012. Some 307 candidates ran in five constituencies with 422,569 eligible voters.
The House held its first session on December 16, but the Constitutional Court ruled on June 16, 2013, that elections were void and revoked the memberships of winning candidates. The 14th legislative term’s election was again held on July 27, 2013. Some 321 candidates ran for parliament, with 439,715 eligible voters casting their ballots in five constituencies. The first session of the term was held on August 6, 2013, but the house was dissolved on October 16, 2016.
Elections for the 15th legislative term were held on November 26, 2016, with 293 candidates partaking in the race and 483,186 eligible voters casting their ballots in five constituencies. The first session of the term began on December 23, 2016, and the final session was on October 20, 2020. Elections for the 16th legislative term of parliament were held on December 5, 2020, with 326 candidates running and 567,694 eligible voters covering five constituencies.
The first session was held on December 15, 2020, but the parliament did not finish the term and was dissolved on August 2, 2022. On September 29, 2022, the election for the 17th legislative term was held with the participation of 305 candidates, while eligible voters amounted to 795,911 in the five constituencies. The 17th legislative term began its first session on October 11, but the constitutional court decided on March 19, 2023, to annul the 2022 National Assembly, which paved the way for the return of the 2020-elected parliament.
On May 1, 2023, a decree was issued to dissolve parliament. On June 6, 2023, the 17th legislative term re-election began with 207 candidates partaking and 793,646 eligible voters casting their ballots in the five constituencies. On February 15, 2024, a decree was issued to dissolve parliament. On February 27, the Cabinet set April 4 as the date of the National Assembly elections, and on March 2, Kuwait’s official gazette published Decree No. 29/2024 inviting eligible voters to elect parliament members. — KUNA