Kuwait, under new emir, votes yet again

Election-weary Kuwait voted for the third time in three years on Thursday, just months into the reign of a new emir.

Parliamentary polls have become an annual occurrence for the OPEC member country, which has seven per cent of the world's oil reserves and the Gulf's most powerful elected assembly.

The national assembly's clashes with the cabinet have caused constant stalemate, delaying reforms.

"These elections are different," retired health worker Sheikha Yaqoub Al-aziz told AFP, after she cast her vote at a women-only polling station in the Jabriya area. "We hope that the interests of the citizens and the country will be achieved, similar to other Gulf countries, and that services will develop."

Almost 835,000 voters are eligible to choose 50 MPS from 200 candidates, including just 13 women, in only the second Kuwaiti election held during the holy month of Ramadan.

Results are expected today, followed by the resignation of the first government appointed by the new emir, Sheikh Meshal al-ahmad al-sabah.

"Kuwait's participatory politics is unmatched in the region," Kuwait University political analyst Bader al-saif said.

"Its system requires a reset and urgently needed reforms no doubt, but the fact that it enables its citizens to express themselves and have a say in governance makes it different."

Sheikh Meshal came to power aged 83 in December after the death of his half-brother and predecessor, Sheikh Nawaf.

He took aim at both the cabinet and parliament in his inaugural speech to the assembly, and then announced an era of "reform" as he picked Kuwait's first foreign minister from outside the ruling family.