Elections in Kuwait are held for both the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...

and for the Municipality. Kuwait's constitution calls for elections to the unicameral

at a maximum interval of four years. Elections are held earlier if the Constitutional Court or

Emir Emir (; ar, أمير ' ), sometimes transliterated amir, amier, or ameer, is a word of Arabic origin that can refer to a male monarch, aristocrat, holder of high-ranking military or political office, or other person possessing actual or cerem ...

dissolve the parliament.

Electoral districts

Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the nort ...

was divided into five districts in the National Assembly elections between 1963 and 1975. Each district elected ten deputies to the Assembly. Before the 1981 elections the government redistricted Kuwait, creating a system of 25 districts. Following the redistricting, fewer Shi'ite candidates won seats in the Assembly. This was a deliberate result of the redistricting, and it followed the

1979 Revolution The Iranian Revolution ( fa, انقلاب ایران, Enqelâb-e Irân, ), also known as the Islamic Revolution ( fa, انقلاب اسلامی, Enqelâb-e Eslâmī), was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynas ...

in Iran. Each of the 25 districts elected two members to the

, for a total of 50 elected members (additional members sit as appointed members of the cabinet).

Political blocs

While political groups and parliamentary voting blocs exist, most candidates run as independents. Once elected, many deputies form voting blocs in the National Assembly. While Kuwaiti law does not recognize

political parties A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or pol ...

, numerous political groups function as ''de facto'' political parties in elections, and there are blocs in the parliament. Major ''de facto'' political parties include:

National Democratic Alliance National Democratic Alliance (NDA) () is a Centre-right politics, centre-right to Right-wing politics, right-wing and Conservatism, conservative Indian big tent political alliance led by the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). It was foun ...

Popular Action Bloc The Popular Action Bloc ( ar, كتلة العمل الشعبي) is a political bloc in Kuwait headed by veteran former Speaker Ahmed Al-Sadoun. The group focuses on populist issues like housing, salary raises, and reform. Expulsion of Shiite MPs ...

Hadas Hadas (Arabic: حدس), officially the Islamic Constitutional Movement ( ') is a Kuwaiti Islamist political organization.Scott Williamson and Nathan Brown. (20 November 2013Kuwaits muslim brotherhood under pressure ''Foreign Policy''. Retrieved ...

(Kuwaiti

Muslim Brotherhood The Society of the Muslim Brothers ( ar, جماعة الإخوان المسلمين'' ''), better known as the Muslim Brotherhood ( ', is a transnational Sunni Islamist organization founded in Egypt by Islamic scholar and schoolteacher Hassan ...

National Islamic Alliance The National Islamic Alliance ( ar, التحالف الوطني الإسلامي) is a Shia political organization in Kuwait. Of the fifty elected members of Kuwait National Assembly in 2008, two belong to the National Islamic Alliance: Adnan Zah ...

and

Justice and Peace Alliance The Justice and Peace Alliance ( ar, تجمع العدالة والسلام), sometimes translated as the Justice and Peace Gathering, is a moderate Shi'a political bloc in Kuwait. Of the fifty elected members of Kuwait National Assembly, only o ...

Election history

The earliest modern elections in Kuwait were held in 1921. Elections were held again in June and then in December 1938 for a ''majlis al-tashri'i'', or Legislative Council. The ruling family dissolved the second Council in 1939. Following independence in 1961 elections were held in 1962 to elect 20 members to the constitutional convention.

Suffrage

Kuwait has universal adult suffrage for Kuwaiti citizens who are 21 or older. The constitution bars members of the ruling family from running for election to the National Assembly, though the constitution does not explicitly prohibit these members of the ruling family from casting votes. The franchise was expanded to include women in 2005. When voting was first introduced in Kuwait in 1985, Kuwaiti women had the

right to vote Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise, is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to v ...

. This right was later removed. In 2005, Kuwaiti women were re-granted the right to vote. Kuwait's citizenship law, in theory, gives citizenship to those who descend, in the male line, from residents of Kuwait in 1920.

References

External links