Ahead of the parliamentary elections. Has Kuwait's high opposition to the government subsided?

KUWAIT — With each Kuwaiti parliamentary election, opposition among candidates increases, and their voices rise to attack the performance of the government, in a scene that may be a tactic to win over voters.

During their campaigns for Kuwait's National Assembly elections scheduled for June 6, many candidates have a high political rhetoric attacking government performance and highlighting the slowness in addressing pressing issues of concern to large segments of the population.

This high tone comes despite the start of the government - which was formed by an Emiri decree headed by Sheikh Ahmed Al-Nawaf on the ninth of last April / April - to address important issues and improve in the service sector.

The escalating dispute between the legislative and executive authorities in Kuwait led on April 17 to the dissolution of the National Assembly elected in 2020 and reinstated by the ruling of the Constitutional Court on March 19, and the annulment of the parliamentary elections that took place in 2022.

Voters want to solve important issues and candidates are governed by relationship with the government (Al Jazeera)

The predicament of the opposition movement

However, MP and former minister Ahmed Al-Mulaifi believes that the electoral campaigns of most of the candidates affiliated with the opposition movement in the 2023 national elections are characterized by calm, unlike previous campaigns that passed through Kuwait, with calls to motivate voters to go to the polls due to voters' boredom and lack of achievement, and because of conflicts that turned into "personal" and were not for development.

Al-Mulaifi says – in an interview with Al Jazeera Net – that the opposition is going through a major political impasse, because its candidates do not have new materials to provide in their electoral seminars, as they were previously attacking government performance, but today they can not attack the government and its president, who will submit his resignation after the elections to be reconstituted again, because he gave opposition MPs in the previous Council what they demanded politically.

"They wish for the continuation of these political gifts with a renewed return to the current government after its reformation. Also, because the opposition's direct opponent (former National Assembly Speaker Marzouq al-Ghanim) has attacked the prime minister's performance, and they don't want to align with him against the government."

At the same time, al-Mulaifi says that opposition candidates fear the positions of their constituencies that criticize government performance, which has not been able to address many important issues, so the opposition is unable to speak as much during seminars as it did in previous council elections.

The MP believes that the political situation will remain unstable, and the confrontation between the two opposition teams and those who disagree with it will continue, "although the opposition is currently scattered blocs, but it is possible to unite after the elections during the election of the new Speaker of the National Assembly if those who do not agree on it run, but they will then return to disagree again," he estimated.

Al-Mulaifi believes that the candidates in the previous councils presented clear visions of some issues, which are many, such as: education and health, housing and infrastructure, adjusting the demographic structure, the economic situation and others.

However, he says that the tools to address these issues were faltering as a result of the candidates' preoccupation with side conflicts that are not a priority for citizens, and this will affect voter turnout to participate in the electoral process, unlike in the past, when people were busy with the elections a month before the date of voting, unlike today, where speech in seminars and offices has become repeated and voters are not enthusiastic about asking questions to candidates.

Unstable situation

Contrary to this view, political activist Huda al-Kribani still sees a high opposition trend among the candidates, and even says that the increase of this tendency and the loud voice in attacking the performance of the government "This is the reality of the stage", as the opposition voice is prevalent in the candidates' forums and seminars.

According to al-Kribani, this indicates the general discontent and dissatisfaction that prevailed among voters – before candidates – with the performance of previous governments, despite the presence of a glimmer of hope towards the government of Sheikh Ahmed al-Nawaf, "the conflict of poles and individual interest is still the one that penetrates between the joints of political action."

Al-Kribani adds – in an interview with Al Jazeera Net – that this will quickly affect the situation of the National Assembly (unstable in recent years), "as we are spinning in a vicious circle for a long time, believing that we will change something in our simple democratic system. But of course we are optimistic, because we have the elements of a conscious people who want change, and we have a constitution that allows us to change its articles whenever needed, and today we are in dire need of that, in order to further correct collective democratic work that guarantees the continuity and stability of the Council."

Al-Kribani: The One Voice System is Catastrophic (Al Jazeera)

Al-Kribani stressed that the existing electoral system needs to be changed, and correcting the course begins with changing the one-vote system "because it is disastrous", and there is no solution to this "complex" system - in her opinion - except through parties or the proportional list system, and each party or list adopts a unified national action program with a specific timetable.

"In light of individual work, there is no actual and real electoral program for the candidate through which he can achieve the ambitions and desires of voters, so some turn to the temporary opposition, which manifests itself in shouting, promises and practicing some electoral tricks to win the favor of the street only," al-Kribani said.

It is noteworthy that the Kuwaiti National Assembly elections are held in accordance with a law issued by Decree No. 20 of 2012, which is called the "Five Constituencies Law", according to the one-vote system. The decree aimed to amend Article II of the Four Votes Law, which is that each voter has the right to cast one vote in his constituency, instead of 4 votes.