Elections in Kuwait are held for both the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the rep ...

and for the Municipality. Kuwait's constitution calls for elections to the unicameral

at a maximum interval of four years. Elections are held earlier if the Constitutional Court or

Emir Emir (; ar, أمير ' ), sometimes transliterated amir, amier, or ameer, is a word of Arabic origin that can refer to a male monarch, aristocrat, holder of high-ranking military or political office, or other person possessing actual or cer ...

dissolve the parliament.

Electoral districts

Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the no ...

was divided into five districts in the National Assembly elections between 1963 and 1975. Each district elected ten deputies to the Assembly. Before the 1981 elections the government redistricted Kuwait, creating a system of 25 districts. Following the redistricting, fewer Shi'ite candidates won seats in the Assembly. This was a deliberate result of the redistricting, and it followed the

1979 Revolution The Iranian Revolution ( fa, انقلاب ایران, Enqelâb-e Irân, ), also known as the Islamic Revolution ( fa, انقلاب اسلامی, Enqelâb-e Eslâmī), was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynas ...

in Iran. Each of the 25 districts elected two members to the

, for a total of 50 elected members (additional members sit as appointed members of the cabinet).

Political blocs

While political groups and parliamentary voting blocs exist, most candidates run as independents. Once elected, many deputies form voting blocs in the National Assembly. While Kuwaiti law does not recognize political parties, numerous political groups function as ''de facto'' political parties in elections, and there are blocs in the parliament. Major ''de facto'' political parties include:

National Democratic Alliance National Democratic Alliance (NDA) () is a centre-right to right-wing and conservative Indian big tent political alliance led by the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). It was founded in 1998 and currently controls the government of India ...

Popular Action Bloc The Popular Action Bloc ( ar, كتلة العمل الشعبي) is a political bloc in Kuwait headed by veteran former Speaker Ahmed Al-Sadoun. The group focuses on populist issues like housing, salary raises, and reform. Expulsion of Shiite MP ...

Hadas Hadas (Arabic: حدس), officially the Islamic Constitutional Movement ( ') is a Kuwaiti Islamist political organization.Scott Williamson and Nathan Brown. (20 November 2013Kuwaits muslim brotherhood under pressure ''Foreign Policy''. Retrieved ...

(Kuwaiti

Muslim Brotherhood The Society of the Muslim Brothers ( ar, جماعة الإخوان المسلمين'' ''), better known as the Muslim Brotherhood ( ', is a transnational Sunni Islamist organization founded in Egypt by Islamic scholar and schoolteacher Hassa ...

), National Islamic Alliance and Justice and Peace Alliance.

Election history

The earliest modern elections in Kuwait were held in 1921. Elections were held again in June and then in December 1938 for a ''majlis al-tashri'i'', or Legislative Council. The ruling family dissolved the second Council in 1939. Following independence in 1961 elections were held in 1962 to elect 20 members to the constitutional convention.

Suffrage

Kuwait has universal adult suffrage for Kuwaiti citizens who are 21 or older. The constitution bars members of the ruling family from running for election to the National Assembly, though the constitution does not explicitly prohibit these members of the ruling family from casting votes. The franchise was expanded to include women in 2005. When voting was first introduced in Kuwait in 1985, Kuwaiti women had the

right to vote Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise, is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to v ...

. This right was later removed. In 2005, Kuwaiti women were re-granted the right to vote. Kuwait's citizenship law, in theory, gives citizenship to those who descend, in the male line, from residents of Kuwait in 1920.

References

External links