Kuwaitis were electing the country's third parliament in three years on Tuesday, following an impasse between the legislative and executive branches of government that has hindered much-needed economic reforms.
More than 790,000 voters will be able to cast their ballots from 8am to 8pm.
Footage posted on state television showed a low turnout at polling stations in Kuwait City’s second constituency, which has 90,394 voters.
Observers expect more people to vote later in the day, especially in the afternoon.
The latest general election was called by the emir last month after he again dissolved parliament due to a persistent political deadlock.
Kuwait adopted a parliamentary system in 1962, but repeated political crises over the past years have resulted in state paralysis, with consecutive elected assemblies dissolved by the ruling emir.
Kuwait is the only Gulf Arab state to have an elected parliament with powers to hold the government to account.
Elected members of parliament have the power to question the prime minister and other ministers. They can also take measures including holding votes of no confidence against them.
Political manoeuvring has included Kuwait’s constitutional court nullifying the results of last year’s elections, in which the opposition blocs won the most seats. It also ruled that the previous parliament elected in 2020 be reinstated.
“I expect the upcoming election will not see a high voter turnout because the people have now grown desperate, depressed and exhausted from going to the polls for the third time in three years,” Mohammed Al Thunayyan, president of Torous Centre for Political Studies, told The National.
On April 9, Kuwait’s seventh new government in three years was announced after the previous cabinet resigned in January, just three months after taking office.
Just over a week later, the ruling family dissolved parliament and called a new general election.
The political impasse between the parliament and the government under Prime Minister Sheikh Ahmad Nawaf Al Sabah has centred over the past year on a 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 be too expensive, costing almost $46 billion in public funds, while MPs said it would cost less than $6.5 billion.
A total of 207 candidates including 13 women will take part in Tuesday's vote, the lowest number of candidates in a legislative election since 1996.
Among the top contenders include the speakers of parliament in both 2020 and 2022; Marzouq Al Ghanim and Ahmed Al Saadoun. If elected, Mr Al Ghanim is expected to run again for the speaker position, but observers expect it will be out of his reach if opposition MPs he has clashed with in the past make similar gains in the last elections.
Mr Al Saadoun, 89, is known among Kuwaitis as the “Godfather of Parliament” and is expected to lead the opposition bloc of MPs in Tuesday’s election.
Disputes between parliament and the government often break out when MPs want to question ministers about allegations of corruption or poor management of government spending.
Despite expectations of low voter turnout, younger MPs such as Abdulwahhab Al Issa, 33, are urging his fellow young Kuwaitis to turn out in droves to give the next elected parliament a populist legitimacy to pass reforms and break the stalemate.
“It’s very important that the Kuwaitis show up and vote in this election cycle, so we don’t go back in time like in 2013 when a majority of Kuwaitis boycotted that election and it reflected negatively on the political and economic situation in the country, with bad bills and laws being passed,” Mr Al Issa said.
“If Kuwaitis do turn up and we see a high voter turnout, then it would give the 2023 parliament the nationalist and populist backing to pass an agenda that could achieve political stability and economic development that is badly needed.”
Of the 13 women vying for the 50 seats in parliament are Jenan Boushehri and Alia Al Khaled, the only two women to win seats in last year's elections.
“My message to my sisters and brothers in all constituencies, and specifically in the third constituency where I’m contesting, is that no matter how faltering and frustrating our democratic practice has been in the past, we must not lose confidence in the legislative institution, as it is the voice of the people,” she told reporters outside her campaign headquarters on Sunday evening.
