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]

December 2012 Kuwaiti general election
Kuwait
← February 2012 1 December 2012 2013 →

50 of the 65 seats in the National Assembly
Turnout39.6% (Decrease 19.9pp)

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.[citation needed] 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.[citation needed]

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

Background

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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.[3] The changes resulted in mass protests and an opposition boycott of the elections.[3] Shafeeq Ghabra, professor at the Faculty of Political Sciences at Kuwait University said that, "it's clear that the boycott was very successful."[4] The opposition rejected a unilateral amendment of the electoral law that reduced the number of votes per person from four to one.[5]

Results

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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

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On 5 December, despite calls for political reforms, Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah was reappointed Prime Minister.[6] In the opening session of the Assembly, Ali al-Rashid was elected Speaker.

CandidatePartyVotes%
Ali Al-RashidIndependent3352.38
Ali al-OmairIndependent2641.27
Ahmed Al-MulaifiIndependent46.35
Total63100.00
Valid votes63100.00
Invalid/blank votes00.00
Total votes63100.00
Registered voters/turnout6596.92

In June 2013, the Constitutional Court ordered the dissolution of the National Assembly and the holding of fresh elections.[3]

References

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