Kuwait: Abdulhadi proposes two-stage elections

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KUWAIT: MP Naji Al-Abdulhadi yesterday submitted an amendment to the election law proposing that parliamentary elections should be held in two stages to help eradicate shortfalls and drawbacks in the current system. According to the amendment, election judges will announce on the election day the number of votes obtained by each candidate without announcing winners. A week later, a runoff election will be held between the top 16 candidates in each of the five constituencies and the winners will be the first 10 candidates.

Abdulhadi said that despite repeated changes in Kuwait's election system, negative phenomena have not disappeared, including a rise in factionalism, tribalism and sectarianism. He said that he believes that the two-stage elections will reduce to a great extent these negative practices.

Meanwhile, Islamist MP Jamaan Al-Harbash yesterday charged wide-ranging financial and administrative irregularities at Kuwait Airways Corp (KAC)Kuwait Airways Corp (KAC) with senior management exploiting the fact that the carrier will be privatized soon. He said the current management committed a large number of violations, costing the carrier large amounts of money, adding that a number of senior officials in KACKAC have illegally benefited from such practices.

Harbash charged that many senior employees received unnecessary pay rises, while others were illegally sent on foreign missions or seconded for long periods to KACKAC foreign offices, thus benefitting from double pay. The lawmaker claimed that the position of KACKAC has sharply deteriorated in the past few months as a result of the irregularities, with senior officials getting incentives and perks although the KACKAC has incurred huge losses. He also sent a large number of questions to Communications Minister Mohammad Al-Baseeri about suspicious decisions made by the management during the past few months.

In another development, MP Maasouma Al-Mubarak demanded in a question to the interior minister to know the number of expatriates held at the deportation center, specifying sex and nationality. She also demanded the number of children there below 18, their nationality, sex and age. Mubarak demanded to know the violations committed by those people, the duration spent by each of them at the center and measures taken by the ministry to either release or deport them. She also demanded the monthly cost for each prisoner at the center and the annual cost of the center.

By B Izzak

© Kuwait Times 2009