The political situation in the country has continued to deteriorate, prompting the security authorities to take the necessary precautionary measures, Fifth Constituency candidate Fadhel Fares Al-Dabbous said Friday. Al-Dabbous stressed the endless power struggle between the executive and legislative authorities has led to the dissolution of the previous Parliament. He pointed out the former lawmakers, who approved the five-constituency system, thought it is the right solution to Kuwait's political problems.
"However, the sectarian and tribal ideologies prevailed. Vote-buying is still rampant and there seems to be no way out of this quagmire as the candidates who have been using political money to bribe voters believe they can get more once they win in the elections," Al-Dabbous lamented.
Al-Dabbous believes the structure of the next Parliament will be the same or worse than its predecessors due to the widespread electoral malpractices. He also asked the political leaders to modify the electoral system and reduce the number of constituencies from five to one to save the nation from further decline.
Meanwhile, the candidate for the First Constituency in the upcoming elections Dr Maasouma Al-Mubarak said she will advance three main agendas, mainly transparency, rule of law and respect for the national constituency when given the mandate in the next Assembly. "I am contesting as an independent candidate and hope to win by the wish of Allah, she said, adding that the next Parliament and government could rescue the nation economically and politically in the atmosphere of cooperation and mutual respect," reports Al-Seyassah daily.
Al-Mubarak also underscored the need for peace before and after the election, urging all stakeholders to avoid inflammatory statements which could fuel sectarian and tribal sentiments. Turning to wider national issues, Al-Mubarak advocated the need for a 20-year development plan to address various national issues including politics and infrastructure, unemployment and education, saying the nation's infrastructure has deteriorated to the level not depicting its image as a major oil producer.
Meanwhile, former MP and a Fourth Constituency candidate Dr Mohammed Abdul-Jabber said so far it is unclear if the next government will be anyway different from the past government, which was visionless. "The past government was virtually paralyzed by sheer volume of grilling while it also failed to utilize the huge revenue surplus earned from massive oil windfall towards improvement of services including health and human resources," he noted.
Bader Nasser Al-Rabadi another Fourth Constituency contestant also highlighted the deterioration of services in the country, stressing that Kuwaitis are frustrated due to wrong practices and priorities of the past parliament. Kuwaitis who are noted for enviable democratic credentials have also paid a high price for the frosty relationship that existed between the past government and parliaments, saying these developments have eroded citizens' confidence in the democratic institutions.
© Arab Times 2009
