Kuwaiti general election, December 2012

This article is part of a series on the
politics and government of
Kuwait

Early general elections were held in Kuwait on 1 December 2012 after early elections in February 2012 were declared invalid.[1]

In the elections, Shi'as won 17 out of 50 seats in the National Assembly,[2] an increase from the seven won in the February elections.[3] Sunni Islamists were reduced to a minority.[2] Three women also entered the Parliament compared to men-only from the February election, but their number decreased compared to the 2009 election.[3]

Turnout was officially reported to be 43%, the lowest in the Kuwaiti electoral history.

Background

Six weeks before the elections, the electoral system was changed, with voters restricted to voting for only one candidate, having previously been allowed to vote for four.[4] The changes resulted in mass protests and an opposition boycott of the elections.[4] Shafeeq Ghabra, professor at the Faculty of Political Sciences at Kuwait University said that, "it's clear that the boycott was very successful."[5] The opposition rejected an unilateral amendment of the electoral law that reduced the number of votes per person from four to one.[6]

Results

District Candidate Votes % Notes
FirstKamel Mahmoud al-Awadhi5,74713.4Elected
Adnan Zahid Abdulsamad4,98611.6Elected
Faisal Saud Saleh Duwaisan4,85111.3Elected
Yusuf Sayed Zalzalah3,5008.2Elected
Massouma al-Mubarak3,1977.5Elected
Hamid Abbas Hussein Dashti2,7236.4Elected
Saleh Ashour2,2605.3Elected
Nawaf Suleiman al-Fezia2,1435.0Elected
Khalid Hussain al-Shatti1,9024.4Elected
Hussain Al-Qallaf Al-Bahrani1,6964.0Elected
41 other candidates9,83022.9
SecondAli Al-Rashid3,04111.6Elected
Adnan Ibrahim al-Mutawa2,6089.9Elected
Abdul Rahman al-Jiran2,3358.9Elected
Badr Rashid Bathali1,9197.3Elected
Adel Jarallah al-Kharafi1,8387.0Elected
Ahmed Lari1,6396.2Elected
Khalaf Al-Enezi1,5535.9Elected
Khalil Ibrahim Saleh1,4855.7Elected
Hamad Saif al-Hrchana1,0434.0Elected
Salah Abdullatif al-Ateeqi9103.5Elected
40 other candidates7,85730.0
ThirdAli al-Omair5,85015.2Elected
Khalil Abdullah Ali Abdullah3,88710.1Elected
Ahmed Al-Mulaifi2,9847.7Elected
Safa Abdulrahman al-Hashem2,6226.8Elected
Saadoun Hammad Otaibi2,1595.6Elected
Hisham Hussein al-Baghli2,0165.2Elected
Abdullah Yusuf Rajab Mayouf1,9525.1Elected
Nabil Nuri al-Fadl1,8834.9Elected
Yacoub Mohsen al-Sahneh1,3813.6Elected
Mohammed Nasser al-Jabri1,2503.2Elected
50 other candidates12,57032.6
FourthAskar Al-Enezi2,4798.0Elected
Saad al-Khanfour al-Rasheedi2,4698.0Elected
Saud Al-Harija2,0846.7Elected
Mubarak al-Khurainej1,7725.7Elected
Thekra Ayed al-Rashidi1,2824.1Elected
Khaled Rifai Mohammed Al-Shuleyma1,2364.0Elected
Mohammed Al-Rasheedi1,2133.9Elected
Mubarak Hamdan al-Orf1,1053.6Elected
Mishari Zahir al-Husseini1,1013.6Elected
Mubarak Saleh al-Nejadhu1,0853.5Elected
56 other candidates15,10748.8
FifthFaisal Mohammed al-Kandari3,57014.3Elected
Abdullah Ibrahim al-Tamimi2,93211.7Elected
Nasser Abdel al-Marri1,6676.7Elected
Hani Hussein Shams1,6666.7Elected
Essam Al-Dabbous1,3195.3Elected
Tahir Ali al-Failakawi8873.5Elected
Hammad Hammad al-Dossari8823.5Elected
Khaled Salem al-Ajmi8513.4Elected
Saad Fahad al-Bous7913.2Elected
Nasser Abdullah al-Shammari5192.1Elected
70 other candidates9,93239.7
Invalid/blank votes3,639
Total167,205100
Registered voters/turnout422,56939.6
Source: Adam Carr

Aftermath

On 5 December, despite calls for political reforms, Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah was reappointed Prime Minister.[7]

In June 2013, the Constitutional Court ordered the dissolution of the National Assembly and the holding of fresh elections.[4]

References

  1. "Kuwait calls December election after months of unrest". BBC. 20 October 2012. Retrieved 23 October 2012.
  2. 1 2 "Shia minority makes gains in Kuwait election". Al Jazeera. 2 December 2012. Retrieved 3 December 2012.
  3. 1 2 "New faces in Kuwait parliament as opposition boycotts ‘unconstitutional’ poll". RT. 2 December 2012. Retrieved 3 December 2012.
  4. 1 2 3 Kuwait elections: Constitutional Court orders fresh poll BBC News, 16 June 2013
  5. Hall, Camila (2 December 2012). "Kuwait suffers lowest election turnout". Financial Times. Retrieved 3 December 2012.
  6. Black, Ian (2 December 2012). "Kuwait election turnout shrinks after opposition boycott". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 December 2012.
  7. "Protests continue in Kuwait as emir reappoints PM". Al Bawaba. 6 December 2012. Retrieved 7 December 2012.
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