Marzouq Al-Ghanim receives congratulations from his voters for topping the second district in the elections (Al-Jazeera)

Kuwait -

After a long Ramadan day, the curtain came down yesterday, Thursday, on the 2024 Kuwaiti National Assembly elections, amid large participation to choose the 50 members of the Assembly from 200 candidates in the five constituencies in Kuwait.

The total electoral participation amounted to 518,365 voters out of 834,733 eligible to vote, bringing the participation rate to 62.10%, during a voting process that lasted for 12 hours, starting from 12 noon yesterday, Thursday, until 12 pm the same day.

The results of “Nation 2024” witnessed the return of most of the representatives of the previous council with some changes, and the entry of 6 new candidates, while candidate Jinan Bushahri maintained the only female seat in the council for the second session in a row, and the percentage of change from the previous council reached 22%, while it was in the 2023 elections. Up to 24%.

The Kuwaiti National Assembly elections witnessed wide participation (Al Jazeera)

Wide participation

The head of the Tarrous Center for Studies, Muhammad Al-Thunayan, confirmed that the participation rate in the voting process rose compared to the previous elections, noting that the invitation of the Emir of the State of Kuwait, Sheikh Meshaal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, in the speech he addressed to the Kuwaiti people, contributed to the high participation rate, and this is also due to the fact that most Citizens are in the country during the month of Ramadan, in addition to the people’s insistence on continuing the reform process.

Thunayan added, in an interview with Al Jazeera Net, that the short period of time did not leave much room for the candidates to be fully prepared to run in the elections, and the dissolution of the last parliament after a short period did not leave enough time to test the performance of the representatives in Parliament, and this is the reason why the rate of change is not large.

He explained that cooperation in the next council between the legislative and executive authorities will be the most difficult challenge facing the council. This requires resolving the outstanding issues and searching for consensus within the ranks of Parliament, expressing his belief that there will be two blocs in the National Assembly, and members should not start building a legislative map and oblige the government to it, but rather call for the formation of a strong government and oblige it to present a government work program, provided that The Council monitors the work of the government in accordance with its programme.

Large women's participation in the Kuwaiti National Assembly elections (Al Jazeera)

The beginning of cooperation

In a quick reading of the results of the 2024 National Assembly elections, political analyst Fahd Al-Habini believes that the short period of time between the previous and current elections made it extremely difficult for the voter to change his choices, and the majority of the representatives of the dissolved Assembly were agreed on a legislative map that found popular acceptance, and there was agreement. With the government on it, and an agreed upon path of action, this is the main reason for the return of most of the former representatives in these elections.

As for the presence of a large majority bloc in the new Council, the political analyst believes that there are parliamentary groups that will be revealed in the first session through the selection of the Speaker of the Council, and that this is the first test for the Council in its new composition.

In an interview with Al Jazeera Net, Al-Habini expressed his belief that there will be more than one bloc in the council because there are different viewpoints among the representatives with the entry of some new elements that could have their own bloc that differs from the previous council.

He explained that the current Prime Minister knows that the issue of improving the lives of citizens will be the first step in cooperation between the two authorities. If an agreement is reached on it, cooperation will be better, because this point is essential, and there was a pledge from the government about its importance.

Jinan Bushahri celebrates with her campaign team for winning the elections (Al Jazeera)

Voter reaction

As for the political activist Abdul Aziz Sultan, he expects the emergence of a majority bloc in the new Council represented by the group of former Speaker of the Council Ahmed Al-Saadoun and a group of representatives. This majority will pose a threat to the current Prime Minister, and the scene may return to the conditions that prevailed in the 2020 Council, and there may be Lack of cooperation if interrogations are submitted early.

Sultan said in an interview with Al Jazeera Net: “If the government participates in the voting process for the presidency of the Council and its committees, there will be cooperation between the legislative and executive authorities, and if it does not participate, there will be no consensus between the two parties, and the relationship will be tense between them,” explaining that the Prime Minister will not accept the government’s participation. In the process of electing the Speaker of the National Assembly, in order to distance his government from any interpretations of the existence of hidden alliances.

The elections for the Kuwaiti National Assembly took place after the previous Assembly was dissolved due to what was said to be a violation of constitutional principles in highlighting the due respect for the Supreme Council and the deliberate use of offensive and inappropriate expressions. A decree was also issued at the beginning of last March regarding calling voters to elect members of the National Assembly, and the date of April 4 was set. This April is the date for voting.

41 candidates competed in the first electoral district, while 39 candidates competed in the second district, 32 candidates in the third district, and 48 candidates in the fourth district, while in the fifth electoral district 40 candidates competed to choose 10 candidates from each electoral district.

Source: Al Jazeera