Kuwait: Road to the Assembly |
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Kuwait goes to polls on Saturday to elect a new National Assembly, the second in less than two years. Elections are being contested for the first time after the electoral districts have been slashed from 25 to five. Here's a detailed look at the main contests expected in the five districts.
Fourth District
The fourth district consists of 18 large residential areas extending from Farwaniya to Jahra. Other major residential areas include Ardhiya, Sabah Al-Nasser, Firdous, Omariya, Rabiya, Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh and Andalus. It is the second largest district in terms of the number of voters with 93,711 eligible voters, with women forming 58 percent of the electorate with 54,351 voters and 39,360 males. The largest concentration of voters are in New Jahra with 16,361 voters, followed by Old Jahra with 16,088 and Firdous with 13,413 voters.
Seven former MPs of the outgoing Assembly and one former MP from a previous assembly are among 54 hopefuls, who also include five women candidates. Prominent among MPs are former deputy speaker Mohammad Al-Baseeri, Khudair Al-Enezi, Mohammad Al-Khalifa, Musallam Al-Barrak, Ali Al-Deqbasi, Hussein Muzyed and Dhaifallah Buramia. Ahmad Al-Shraian, a former MP, is also running.
This is an entirely tribal constituency with all main Kuwaiti tribes well-represented, but it also has some urbanites (hadhar) and Shiite voters but without any significant weight. The Mutairi tribe is the largest with an estimated 16,000 to 17,000 voters. The tribe held a primary and elected four candidates: Mohammad Hayef Al-Mutairi (also Salafist Islamist), Hussein Al-Quwaian, Mubarak Al-Waalan and Raja Hujailan Al-Mutairi. Their problem is that three former MPs from the tribe, Barrak, Muzyed and Buramia refused to take part in the primary and are running, which means the tribe's votes are bound to be scattered.
The second largest tribe is Rashaydah which has around 15,000 voters. The tribe carried out a primary election and elected former MP Deqbasi, Nasser Al-Duwailah, Saad Al-Khanfour and Mohammad Al-Rasheedi. Two former MPs from the tribe Mubarak Al-Khrainej and Mezel Al-Nemran lost.
Other tribes in the district are Dhafiri, Shimmari and Enezi with each having around 6,000 to 7,000 voters, and Ajmans at about 5,000 voters.Dhafiris have nominated three candidates: former MP Shraian, and Islamists Mohammad Daheem and Khaled Al-Shulaimi. The Shimmari are solidly behind former MP Al-Khalifa who is also backed by the Popular Action Bloc, while the Enezi tribe has not yet sorted out its candidates. Ajmans have Baseeri as their candidate.
The liberals have no candidates running. The fight is basically tribal but Islamists also play a somewhat important role. The Islamic Constitutional Movement (ICM) however is the only political group fielding candidates who are also backed by their respective tribes. Baseeri is supported by his Ajman tribe. Enezi is backed by a part of his tribe while Daheem is backed by the Dhafiris. The Salafists are backing Ali Dakheel Al-Enezi, who is also backed by his tribe, and Mohammad Hayef, also backed by his Mutairi tribe. Also, Barrak, Al-Khalifa and Shuraian are backed by the Popular Action Bloc.
By B Izzak
© Kuwait Times 2008
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