Description of Electoral System:

(courtesy of IFES election guide)

The monarchy is hereditary. In the National Assembly (Majlis al-Umma) 50 members are elected by popular vote to serve 4-year terms.

Electoral Systems Snapshot

(Courtesy of International IDEA)

*Click on links for definitions

WANT MORE ELECTION RELATED STATS FOR KUWAIT? Go to "election databases" on the left-hand menu of this page OR comparative data on the right-hand menu and choose your area of interest.

Kuwait Parliamentary Elections 2009

The Parliamentary elections were held in Kuwait on 16 May 2009, a number of 210 candidates contested to win 50 seats, sixteen were female. The results were announced on 17 May 2009.

Kuwait, For the first time, elected four female MPs. They are: Aseel al-Awadhi and Rola Dashti; both US-educated. Other two: Massouma al-Mubarak and Salwa al-Jassar.

After the Emir Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah dissolved the National Assembly of Kuwait on 18 March 2009 over accusations of supposed abuse of democracy and threats to political stability; the government had resigned just two days before to evade questioning in parliament. This has frequently happened before and is widely seen as a structural problem in Kuwait's otherwise well-developed emerging democratic environment; solutions that have been suggested include forming a government without any members of the royal family (a so-called "popular government"), thus making the possibility of parliamentary questioning a reality, or appointing the crown prince as PM, which would make parliamentary questioning sufficiently unlikely so that it would not be a problem any more. (Source: Wikipedia)

National Assembly website where you can found latest update on the coming parliamentary elections.

Kuwait Parliamentary Elections 2008

An early parliamentary election was held in Kuwait on 17 May 2008 after the Emir Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah dissolved the National Assembly of Kuwait on 19 March 2008 over constant clashes between the government and the elected MPs. The last elections were held less than two years previously and saw a loose alliance of reformists and Islamists gain almost two thirds of the seats.

361,685 Kuwaitis were eligible to vote, more than half of them women; 27 of the 275 candidates were women. None of the female candidates won.

New rules introduced for this election have changed the 25 constituencies electing two to five electing 10. This was a demand of the reformist Kuwaiti Orange Movement, which led mass demonstrations in 2006, who believed the change would impede vote buying electoral frauds.

A leading theme in the election was inflation, which hit a record high 9.5% four months before the election. Many candidates in the election proposed increased governmental subsidies to be funded by oil profits.
(source: Wikipedia)

CDEM Hosts Regional Conference for Gulf Election Officials in Kuwait

In response to a need identified by election officials and election partners in the Gulf region, American University’s Center for Democracy and Election Management (CDEM) convened a conference in Kuwait on February 15 and 16, 2009, to explore establishment of a regional association of Gulf election officials.

Funded by the U.S. Department of State’s Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI), the conference provided an opportunity for wide-ranging discussions on regional electoral cooperation that could serve as a platform for improved professional development, networking, data sharing and promotion of electoral best practices and procedures.

For more information click here, or read the press release.

Kuwait Parliamentary Elections

(courtesy of UNDP-Pogar)

The latest legislative elections in Kuwait took place on May 17, 2008. The number of eligible voters was 361,000, of whom 55% were women. For the first time Kuwaiti voters went to the polls to elect the 50 members of parliament according to the system of large electoral districts which include 5 districts instead the previous 25 electoral districts. Read more

Did you know?

Kuwaiti women were allowed to vote for the first time in 2006 parliamentary elections, and run as candidates in 2005.

Politics of Kuwait

(courtesy of wikipedia)

Politics of Kuwait takes place in a framework of a parliamentary constitutional monarchy, whereby the Emir is the head of government. The State of Kuwait (Dawlat al Kuwayt) has been ruled by the al-Sabah dynasty since approximately 1752. The constitution, approved and promulgated on November 11, 1962, calls for direct elections to a unicameral parliament (the National Assembly). Despite the regular holding of relatively free and fair elections to the National Assembly, Kuwait is not a democracy by the usual definition of the term because the prime minister is not responsible to parliament.