Kuwait set for third election in 30 months after parliament dissolved

Voting expected to take place before July 1

Khalid Al Othaibi, right, registers as a candidate at the Interior Ministry in Kuwait City in August 2022. EPA

Kuwaitis are expected to head to the polls before July 1 for the third time in three years after the country's parliament was dissolved by royal decree on Monday.

Parliament was reinstated in March based on a Constitutional Court ruling after a previous dissolution.

Kuwait's Crown Prince Sheikh Meshal Al Sabah said last month the legislature would be dissolved and that parliamentary elections would be held in the coming months.

A prolonged struggle between the government and the elected parliament has hampered fiscal reforms.

The parliament, first elected in 2020, was dissolved last year in a bid to end the feuding. A vote was held in September in which the opposition made gains.

But the Constitutional Court in March annulled those results and restored the previous assembly.

Kuwait’s constitution states elections for a new parliament must be held within two months from the date of dissolution.

If elections are not held within the two-month period, the dissolved parliament is restored to full constitutional authority and meets immediately as if the dissolution had not taken place.

Following the official dissolution by decree on Monday, several high-profile political figures signalled they would begin campaigning for the coming elections, including National Assembly Speaker Marzouq Al Ghanim.

“After relying on God, and as an embodiment of the principle of returning to the nation to say its word as I have repeatedly demanded, I announce my candidacy for the elections for the second constituency, asking the Lord Almighty for success,” Mr Al Ghanim tweeted.

Kuwaiti MPs speak with parliament speaker Marzouq Al Ghanim, top middle, after the cabinet's resignation in January 2021. AFP

Mr Al Ghanim did not run in the last elections in 2022, during which political opposition figures made significant gains. He has been feuding with Prime Minister Sheikh Ahmad Al Sabah, the emir's son.

The political impasse between the 2022 dissolved parliament and the government under Sheikh Ahmad has over the past year centred on a controversial draft bill calling on the government to take over the consumer and personal loans of Kuwaiti citizens, with an estimated value of several billion Kuwaiti dinars.

The government said the move would have been too expensive, costing almost $46 billion in public funds, while MPs said it would cost less than $6.5 billion.

Sheikh Meshal, who signed Monday's Emiri decree, was handed most of the duties of the ruling emir, Sheikh Nawaf Al Sabah, in late 2021.

Announcing his plans to dissolve the reinstated 2020 parliament last month, Sheikh Meshal said the “will of the people” required new elections that would be “accompanied by some legal and political reforms to take the country to a new phase of discipline and legal reference”.

Kuwait bans political parties, but has given its legislature more influence than similar bodies in other Gulf monarchies. Political stability has traditionally depended on co-operation between the government and parliament.

Despite fears of voter fatigue — this will be Kuwait’s third election in 30 months and its tenth since 2006 — political observers are expecting the campaign season to heat up.

“It is not an exaggeration to say that the coming elections are very important, and may even be the most dangerous in the history of the Kuwaiti elections, because they are a dividing line between the consecration of the state of institutions or the continuation of chaos,” said Jassim Boodai, chairman of the Al Rai Media Group.