The National Assembly ( ar, مجلس الأمة) is the
unicameral
Unicameralism (from ''uni''- "one" + Latin ''camera'' "chamber") is a type of legislature, which consists of one house or assembly, that legislates and votes as one.
Unicameral legislatures exist when there is no widely perceived need for multi ...
legislature
A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make law
Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its p ...
of
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 ...
. The National Assembly meets in
Kuwait City. Political parties are illegal in Kuwait,
candidates run as independents.
The National Assembly is made up of 50 elected members and 16 appointed government ministers (ex officio members).
Overview
The National Assembly is the
legislature
A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make law
Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its p ...
in Kuwait, established in 1963. Its predecessor, the 1938 National Assembly was formally dissolved in 1939 after "one member, Sulaiman al-Adasani, in possession of a letter, signed by other Assembly members, addressed to Iraq's King Ghazi, requesting Kuwait's immediate incorporation into Iraq". This demand came after the merchant members of the Assembly attempted to extract oil money from
Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, a suggestion refused by him and upon which he instigated a crackdown which arrested the Assembly members in 1939.
The National Assembly can have up to 50 MPs. Fifty deputies are elected by one non-transferable vote to serve four-year terms. Members of the cabinet also sit in the parliament as deputies. The constitution limits the size of the cabinet to 16. The cabinet ministers have the same rights as the elected MPs, with the following two exceptions: they do not participate in the work of committees, and they cannot vote when an interpolation leads to a no-confidence vote against one of the cabinet members. In 2001, Nathan J. Brown claimed Kuwait's National Assembly is the most
independent
Independent or Independents may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups
* Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s
* Independ ...
parliament in the Arab world; in 2009,
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
i scholar Eran Segal claimed it is among the "strongest" parliaments in the Middle East.
As per Article 107 of the
Kuwait constitution, the National Assembly can be dissolved by the Amir by decree, giving the reasons for the dissolution. However, the National Assembly shall not be dissolved again on the same grounds, and elections for the new Assembly must be held within a period not exceeding two months from the date of the dissolution.
Gender balance
Women gained 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 ...
in 2005. No women candidates won seats in the 2006 and 2008 elections. Women first won seats in the National Assembly in the
2009 election, in which four women,
Aseel al-Awadhi
Aseel al-Awadhi (born 1969) is a former member of the National Assembly of Kuwait. She was a professor of philosophy at Kuwait University before moving into politics. Al-Awadhi first stood for a seat on the National Assembly in 2008, losing the el ...
,
Rola Dashti
In rail transportation, a rolling highway or rolling road is a form of combined transport involving the conveying of road trucks by rail, referred to as Ro-La trains. The concept is a form of piggyback transportation.
The technical challen ...
,
Massouma al-Mubarak
Massouma al-Mubarak (born 1947) is Kuwait's first female government minister, sworn in on 20 June 2005. She was educated in the United States and is a professor of political science.
Biography
Massouma went to the US for higher education in 1971 ...
and
Salwa al-Jassar Doctor Salwa al-Jassar was one of four women elected to the National Assembly of Kuwait in the 2009 legislative election. al-Jassar is the Chief of Center for Empowering Women and ran as an independent candidate. al-Jassar obtained a Bachelor's deg ...
, were elected.
Building
The parliament building was designed by Danish architect
Jørn Utzon
Jørn Oberg Utzon, , Hon. FAIA (; 9 April 191829 November 2008) was a Danish architect. He was most notable for designing the Sydney Opera House in Australia, completed in 1973. When it was declared a World Heritage Site on 28 June 2007, Utzon ...
, who also designed
Sydney Opera House.
Political factions
While political parties are not legally recognized in Kuwait, a number of political factions exist. The house is composed of different political factions in addition to independents:
* The
liberal
Liberal or liberalism may refer to:
Politics
* a supporter of liberalism
** Liberalism by country
* an adherent of a Liberal Party
* Liberalism (international relations)
* Sexually liberal feminism
* Social liberalism
Arts, entertainment and m ...
, secular bloc.
* The Shaabi (
populist
Populism refers to a range of political stances that emphasize the idea of "the people" and often juxtapose this group against " the elite". It is frequently associated with anti-establishment and anti-political sentiment. The term develop ...
) bloc: A coalition of populists (Sunni and Shia), liberals and nationalist political organizations with a focus on
middle-class issues. The
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 ...
is their main political organization.
* The
Islamist bloc: Consisting of Sunni Islamist members.
See also
*
Politics of Kuwait
Kuwait is an emirate with an autocratic political system. The political system consists of an appointed judiciary, appointed government (dominated by the Al Sabah ruling family), and nominally elected parliament.
Constitution
The Constitution ...
*
Government of Kuwait
Kuwait is an emirate with a political system consisting of an appointed judiciary, appointed government (dominated by the Al Sabah ruling family), and nominally elected parliament.
Executive branch
The Constitution of Kuwait was approved and ...
*
Cabinet of Kuwait
*
Elections in Kuwait
*
List of Speakers of Kuwait National Assembly
*
Kuwait National Assembly No-Confidence Votes
References
External links
Kuwait National Assembly website
{{Authority control
1963 establishments in Kuwait
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 ...
Government of Kuwait
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 ...
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 ...
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 rep ...