December 2012 Kuwaiti general election
Early general elections were held in Kuwait on 1 December 2012 after early elections in February 2012 were declared invalid.[1]
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| This article is part of a series on the politics and government of Kuwait |
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 Kuwait portal |
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 to single non-transferable vote, with voters restricted to voting for only one candidate, having previously been allowed to vote for four under multiple non-transferable vote.[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 a unilateral amendment of the electoral law that reduced the number of votes per person from four to one.[6]
Results
| District | Candidate | Votes | % | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First | Kamel Mahmoud al-Awadhi | 5,747 | 13.4 | Elected |
| Adnan Zahid Abdulsamad | 4,986 | 11.6 | Elected | |
| Faisal Saud Saleh Duwaisan | 4,851 | 11.3 | Elected | |
| Yusuf Sayed Zalzalah | 3,500 | 8.2 | Elected | |
| Massouma al-Mubarak | 3,197 | 7.5 | Elected | |
| Hamid Abbas Hussein Dashti | 2,723 | 6.4 | Elected | |
| Saleh Ashour | 2,260 | 5.3 | Elected | |
| Nawaf Suleiman al-Fezia | 2,143 | 5.0 | Elected | |
| Khalid Hussain al-Shatti | 1,902 | 4.4 | Elected | |
| Hussain Al-Qallaf Al-Bahrani | 1,696 | 4.0 | Elected | |
| 41 other candidates | 9,830 | 22.9 | ||
| Second | Ali Al-Rashid | 3,041 | 11.6 | Elected |
| Adnan Ibrahim al-Mutawa | 2,608 | 9.9 | Elected | |
| Abdul Rahman al-Jiran | 2,335 | 8.9 | Elected | |
| Badr Rashid Bathali | 1,919 | 7.3 | Elected | |
| Adel Jarallah al-Kharafi | 1,838 | 7.0 | Elected | |
| Ahmed Lari | 1,639 | 6.2 | Elected | |
| Khalaf Al-Enezi | 1,553 | 5.9 | Elected | |
| Khalil Ibrahim Saleh | 1,485 | 5.7 | Elected | |
| Hamad Saif al-Hrchana | 1,043 | 4.0 | Elected | |
| Salah Abdullatif al-Ateeqi | 910 | 3.5 | Elected | |
| 40 other candidates | 7,857 | 30.0 | ||
| Third | Ali al-Omair | 5,850 | 15.2 | Elected |
| Khalil Abdullah Ali Abdullah | 3,887 | 10.1 | Elected | |
| Ahmed Al-Mulaifi | 2,984 | 7.7 | Elected | |
| Safa Abdulrahman al-Hashem | 2,622 | 6.8 | Elected | |
| Saadoun Hammad Otaibi | 2,159 | 5.6 | Elected | |
| Hisham Hussein al-Baghli | 2,016 | 5.2 | Elected | |
| Abdullah Yusuf Rajab Mayouf | 1,952 | 5.1 | Elected | |
| Nabil Nuri al-Fadl | 1,883 | 4.9 | Elected | |
| Yacoub Mohsen al-Sahneh | 1,381 | 3.6 | Elected | |
| Mohammed Nasser al-Jabri | 1,250 | 3.2 | Elected | |
| 50 other candidates | 12,570 | 32.6 | ||
| Fourth | Askar Al-Enezi | 2,479 | 8.0 | Elected |
| Saad al-Khanfour al-Rasheedi | 2,469 | 8.0 | Elected | |
| Saud Al-Harija | 2,084 | 6.7 | Elected | |
| Mubarak al-Khurainej | 1,772 | 5.7 | Elected | |
| Thekra Ayed al-Rashidi | 1,282 | 4.1 | Elected | |
| Khaled Rifai Mohammed Al-Shuleyma | 1,236 | 4.0 | Elected | |
| Mohammed Al-Rasheedi | 1,213 | 3.9 | Elected | |
| Mubarak Hamdan al-Orf | 1,105 | 3.6 | Elected | |
| Mishari Zahir al-Husseini | 1,101 | 3.6 | Elected | |
| Mubarak Saleh al-Nejadhu | 1,085 | 3.5 | Elected | |
| 56 other candidates | 15,107 | 48.8 | ||
| Fifth | Faisal Mohammed al-Kandari | 3,570 | 14.3 | Elected |
| Abdullah Ibrahim al-Tamimi | 2,932 | 11.7 | Elected | |
| Nasser Abdel al-Marri | 1,667 | 6.7 | Elected | |
| Hani Hussein Shams | 1,666 | 6.7 | Elected | |
| Essam Al-Dabbous | 1,319 | 5.3 | Elected | |
| Tahir Ali al-Failakawi | 887 | 3.5 | Elected | |
| Hammad Hammad al-Dossari | 882 | 3.5 | Elected | |
| Khaled Salem al-Ajmi | 851 | 3.4 | Elected | |
| Saad Fahad al-Bous | 791 | 3.2 | Elected | |
| Nasser Abdullah al-Shammari | 519 | 2.1 | Elected | |
| 70 other candidates | 9,932 | 39.7 | ||
| Invalid/blank votes | 3,639 | – | – | |
| Total | 167,205 | 100 | ||
| Registered voters/turnout | 422,569 | 39.6 | ||
| 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
- "Kuwait calls December election after months of unrest". BBC. 20 October 2012. Retrieved 23 October 2012.
- "Shia minority makes gains in Kuwait election". Al Jazeera. 2 December 2012. Retrieved 3 December 2012.
- "New faces in Kuwait parliament as opposition boycotts 'unconstitutional' poll". RT. 2 December 2012. Retrieved 3 December 2012.
- Kuwait elections: Constitutional Court orders fresh poll BBC News, 16 June 2013
- Hall, Camila (2 December 2012). "Kuwait suffers lowest election turnout". Financial Times. Retrieved 3 December 2012.
- Black, Ian (2 December 2012). "Kuwait election turnout shrinks after opposition boycott". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 December 2012.
- "Protests continue in Kuwait as emir reappoints PM". Al Bawaba. 6 December 2012. Retrieved 7 December 2012.