Record number of women to run as Kuwait election candidates
A record number of women candidates are running for office in Kuwait’s National Assembly elections next month.
Thirty-three of the candidates are women, who are among 395 competing for 50 of the Parliament’s 65 seats across five constituencies.
The 15 other seats are filled by appointees.
The last National Assembly, which concluded in September, had one woman MP. In 2016, 15 women ran, but only Safa Al Hashem was elected.
It was Ms Al Hashem’s third parliamentary success, setting a record among the ranks of women who have served.
The increased numbers of women taking part demonstrates the political changes in Kuwait, which began allowing women to vote 15 years ago.
“The parliament only passed women’s suffrage in 2005, after turning down an Emiri Decree in 1999 that granted women’s suffrage,” said Bader Al Saif, assistant professor of history at Kuwait University.
“The number of women running in the 2013 and the 2016 elections, if you combine them, they don’t even reach 33 candidates,” he said.
Candidate registration for the 2020 contest ended last week and the elections are scheduled for December 5.
Dr Bibi Ashour, a social policy specialist and secretary of the Kuwait Society for National Fraternity, is one of the 33 candidates.
She said she believed now was the right time for her to run for office.
“After years of researching and writing about public policies, both as part of my studies and in preparation for a more political role, I felt I was ready to represent Kuwaiti women and women’s social challenges as a whole,” Dr Ashour said.
“Many of the public policies and laws in Kuwait do not take into account the female perspective, or factor in the challenges women face in their daily lives.”
Voter participation in Kuwait has been increasing. At the last National Assembly election, there was a 70 per cent turnout among the country’s 483,000 registered voters.
This year, there are 567,694 people registered to vote. But there has been a decrease in candidate registration from 2016, when 440 people stood for office.
This will be the first election to be held in Kuwaiti history without ruler Sheikh Sabah, who died on September 29.
Last Sunday marked the end of the 40-day mourning period after his death.
It will also be the first election to be held after the National Assembly completed a full term without dissolution by the ruler since 2003.
“Kuwait had the first constitution in the region in 1962 and with it, the first elections in 1963,” Mr Al Saif said.
“This is a different election, yet it’s also similar. There are strands of continuity and change – the whole aspect of the change of the ruler with the passing of Sheikh Sabah.”
Many nations have grappled with how to conduct an election during a pandemic.
Low turnout in Jordan and other nations raised concerns that Kuwait could face a decline in voter attendance because of the need to keep a social distance and the risk of being exposed to the coronavirus.
Kuwaitis will choose their representatives under the single non- transferable vote system, which has been in place since 2012 when Sheikh Sabah issued an Emiri decree to change from a four-vote system.
The system is controversial because some feel that it has strengthened tribalism and voting according to family loyalties.
Kuwaitis can vote only for one representative out of 10 allotted seats for a district, so they end up voting for a tribe member or someone from their district, rather than on merit, or a bloc of people who can collectively carry out their duties as public servants more efficiently.
“In the past, when you have four candidates, you can really lobby. They can build the blocs in parliament this way,” Mr Al Saif said.
“It’s a very personal relationship between you and the candidates, and it makes them work together, maybe a bit harder.”
As such, there has been a large boycott movement and an increased demand for electoral reform, paving the way for challenges to the one-vote system once again, as there have been submissions of draft laws calling for the voting system to be changed.