The country’s ruler, Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, called the vote in December after dissolving the chamber in response to a deepening political deadlock that has stymied reform and held up vital development projects in the key oil-exporting country.
Riding a wave of frustration at the political impasse as well as perceived corruption, opposition candidates took as many as two thirds of the assembly’s 50 seats, eroding slightly the position of Shiite parliamentarians, who on the whole had sided with the previous government.
That could give the opposition an upper hand, even though the 15 appointed Cabinet ministers, drawn mainly from the ranks of the ruling Al-Sabah family, can vote in the Parliament, providing a bloc that has typically been used to dilute opposition or swing a majority in the assembly. “There’s obviously more traction now for the opposition groups. You have kind of a momentum,” said Shahin Shamsabadi, an adviser at the Risk Advisory Group.
None of the women who made it into the previous assembly were part of that movement. All four lost their seats and no new female candidates were elected.
The opposition had been tipped to expand its influence in Parliament in the wake of its success in ousting the unpopular former Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammed Al-Sabah, whom it accused of corruption. That anger came to a head in November when protesters led by opposition MPs stormed the assembly demanding the resignation of Sheikh Nasser. Soon after, the emir dismissed his Cabinet — the seventh line-up in six years.
An investigation by the public prosecutor into notably large deposits in the bank accounts of 13 pro-government parliamentarians gave a further boost to the opposition, which said the sums were bribes paid by ministers to MPs for their backing in the assembly.
But a victory for the opposition is unlikely to end the stand-off between Parliament and the government, analysts say. “The opposition win will not resolve ongoing political and social tensions in Kuwait,” the Eurasia Group said in a note.
The opposition is not a unified force in Kuwait, where a web of tribal and sectarian loyalties undercut most other affinities. A ban on political parties makes religious and kinship ties the easiest and most effective way of mobilizing support. Sixty-two percent of Kuwaitis cast their ballots on Thursday, up slightly from 58 percent in the previous election in 2009. “The situation cannot remain as it was,” opposition candidate Faisel Al-Mislem told hundreds of supporters at a campaign event in the run-up to the vote. “If this election is just a game of musical chairs, then it’s a waste of time.”
