Facts about Kuwait's political system
Following are some facts about the Gulf Arab state's political system:
- Kuwait gained independence from Britain in 1961 and its first fully elected parliament was voted in 1963.
- Kuwait has a parliament with a history of challenging the government, unusual for a region ruled by families. Deputies have to approve the state budget and all major laws or multi-billion business deals. They often exercise their right to question ministers, sometimes prompting them to resign under pressure.
- Kuwait's ruler, Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah, has the last say in policy. He can dissolve the assembly and appoint new governments. Key cabinet portfolios such as defence, interior and foreign affairs are held by members of the ruling al-Sabah family, none of whom have ever held a parliament seat.
- The emir or his predecessors have dissolved parliament five times since its establishment –
2008, 2006, 1999, 1986 and 1976. According to Kuwaiti law, elections must be held within 60 days of the assembly being dissolved, but rulers have ignored this rule before, suspending the assembly for five years from 1976 and six years from 1986.
- Kuwait does not allow political parties but tolerates informal political groups. These include the hardline Islamist Salafist movement, the liberal Democratic Forum Bloc, the Shi'ite Muslim-led National Islamic Coalition, the Islamist Ummah Party, the Islamic Constitutional Movement and the liberal Popular Action Bloc. Islamist and tribal deputies increased their grip on parliament in the last elections in May.
- With no parties allowed sessions are often chaotic and get swamped with uncoordinated motions by MPs who sometimes fight personal vendettas with ministers. Analysts describe the parliament as not efficient in lawmaking compared to Western assemblies.
Parliament passed a law in May 2005 giving women the right to vote and run in elections for the National Assembly. No woman was elected in the last vote in May.
- The current emir is the 15th ruler in a dynasty which has ruled Kuwait for 250 years since part of the Anaiza tribe, to which the al-Sabah belong, migrated from the Arabian hinterland.
- Since the US-led invasion of neighbouring Iraq in 2003 and US calls for change in the Middle East, the ruling family has come under pressure from both Islamists and pro-Western liberals to loosen its grip on government and share power.
- In July 2003, the emir issued a landmark decree separating the post of prime minister from the crown prince for the first time since Kuwait's independence.
- Kuwait passed a new election law in 2006 cutting the number of constituencies from 25 to five in the hope that it would increase competition and reduce vote-buying that has long marred polls.
- Some 361,685 Kuwaitis, over half of them women, were eligible to vote in the 2008 election. Members of the security forces are not allowed to vote, nor are expatriates, who form almost 2.2 million of Kuwait's 3.2 million population.
- Over 270 candidates, including 27 women, were running in May's election for the 50 seats.