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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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 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.