KUWAIT CITY Dec 7: Opposition member Falah Al-Sawagh said on Wednesday that a meeting with HH the Amir was very positive and that the Opposition Bloc assured him they will extend a hand of cooperation to the new government and will not incite the breaking of the law. “The bloc vows to keep this promise to HH the Amir,” he said.

HH the Amir, Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, received 19 members of the Opposition Bloc on Wednesday as well as former independent Shiite MPs — Adnan Abdualsamad, Dr Yousef Al-Zalzalah, Dr Masouma Al-Mubarak, Adnan Al-Mutawa, Dr Rola Dashti, Saleh Ashoor and Faisal Al-Diwaisan.

Al-Sawagh further said that the bloc will not attack candidates unless it is proven they have violated public funds. “Former MP Ahmed Al-Saadoun informed HH the Amir that the bloc will allow the government the next first six months to abide by reform and implement the law,” he added.
Tribal leaders have started holding gatherings for consultations on the best candidates to contest for elections, with reports of primary elections, despite their illegality. The Ministry of Interior (MoI) has indicated they will crack-down on primary elections within all five constituencies.
Al-Sawagh said that he is keen on implementing the law pertaining to elections, however since there is a large number of tribal voters, with Al-Awazim tribe comprising 20 percent of the total votes, more than 23,000 votes, then consultations will be transparent.
Meanwhile, opposition member Naji Abdulhadi confirmed that HH the Amir confirmed the application of the law on everyone and that the government will prevent holding primary elections and the vote-buying phenomenon.

He said HH the Amir urged candidates to use wise statements during election campaigns without resorting to abusive words that seek to tarnish the images of personalities or leaderships of GCC countries. “HH the Amir assured that the Audio-Visual Law will be applied on everyone without exception”.

While HH the Amir has yet to fix the date for parliamentary election, several candidates, former MPs as well as new faces, from the five electoral constituencies have expressed interest in participating. The election is expected in mid-January 2012. Nevertheless, a number of candidates are still hesitating to announce their stance for the upcoming elections.

Those who have officially announced their candidacy in the First Constituency include representative of the Islamic Constitutional Movement (ICM) lawyer Osama Al-Shahin, trade unionists Anwar Al-Dahoum and Yasser Al-Kandari, former MP Hussein Qallaf and Eng. Fahad Abdul-Aziz al-Mashud.
Meanwhile, former MP Faisal Al-Duwaisan preferred to delay announcing his candidacy and said he will announce his position at the right time. He also disclosed that seven independent former MPs including him were received by HH the Amir on Wednesday, stressing the visit was positive as focused promoting tranquility and stability during the next stage.

Former MP Hussein Al-Huraiti said he is still consulting people of the first constituency before entering the elections. He added: “though many of them are urging me to contest, the current situation is delicate and requires a calmer climate.”

Within the Second Constituency, former MP Dr Salwa Al-Jassar announced she will re-nominate herself for the upcoming elections “and I will win in spite of the opposition”. Furthermore, former MPs Jamaan Al-Harbash and Marzook Al-Ghanim and Mohammed Jassem Al-Saqr have confirmed their candidacy.
“I extend all thanks and appreciations to my electoral base and the Kuwaiti people who contributed in my reaching the 2009 parliament. We respect HH the Amir for dissolving the parliament and we hope that the 2012 elections will reflect the national spirit in the Kuwaiti people,” said Al-Jassar.

There are unconfirmed reports that former MP Khalaf Dumaithir and Ali Al-Rashid will re-nominate themselves. Meanwhile former Speaker of the Parliament, Jassem Al-Khorafi announced he did not yet take the decision to enter the parliament election race. New faces in the upcoming elections include Dr Hamad Al-Mattar, Abdul-Wahid Khalfan and Riyadh Al-Adsani within the Second Constituency.

In the Third Constituency, there are confirmed reports that former MPs Ahmed Al-Saadoun, Dr Faisal Al-Muslim, Saleh Al-Mulla, Dr Rola Dashti, Dr Ali Al-Omar, Roudhan Al-Roudhan will re-nominate themselves. Furthermore, ICM representative and lawyer Mohammed Al-Dilal and Shaya Al-Shaya have also decided to enter the elections race.

In the Fourth Constituency, former MPs Musallam Al-Barrak, Mubarak Al-Walaan, Ali Al-Deqbasi, Mohammed Hayef, Hussein Mizyad, Askar Al-Enezi, and Dr Daifullah Buramiya are expected to re-nominate themselves again. Meanwhile, Municipal Council members Abdullah Fuhad and Faraz Al-Daihani, Eng. Talal Minaizel Al-Enezi and Meshaal Mubarak Al-Ayar Al-Enezi have announced their plan to enter the race for the first time.

Furthermore, former MP Mohammed Al-Khalifa issued a statement announcing plans to enter the upcoming elections for the fourth constituency. He urged voters to elect candidates who are honest, competent and capable of achieving the needs and ambitions of the Kuwaiti people instead of depending on discrimination, tribalism, sectarianism and everything that destroys and split the unity of Kuwait’s people.

In the Fifth Constituency, while former MP Khalid Al-Adwa was yet to determine his re-nomination, former MPs Saad Zunaifir and Khalid Al-Tahous have confirmed they will contest in the coming election but outside the primaries of Al-Ajman Tribe.

Moreover, former MP Falah Al-Sawagh is also expected to run in the election. New faces like Abdullah Al-Shuja Al-Otaibi, Dr Nawaf Jahaz Al-Mutairi and Dr Ahmed Bin Iddris Al-Dawsari and Journalist Omar Al-Rashidi have announced their plan to contest in the elections for the first time.

In another development, Al-Umma Party issued a statement calling for a boycott of the elections due to what it described as the “corrupt political process in Kuwait”.

The party stated that, based on its political principles and vision for political reform in Kuwait, it calls on the Kuwaiti people to boycott the upcoming parliamentary elections in protest of the lack reforms within the political and parliamentary arena.

It further added reform should have taken place in the electoral system to make Kuwait a single constituency so as to ensure fairness in parliamentary representation. The party believes a law should have been enacted to organize and recognize political parties to ensure the peaceful work of authority and account it in accordance with its programs.

“An independent national body for the elections should have been created to manage the electoral process and ensure fairness as well as a law criminalizing anybody — candidate or voter — if proven they were corrupt during electoral process and using political money. Furthermore, a law should’ve been created on the organization and financing of election campaigns in order to provide equal opportunities for candidates to appear in the official media,” the statement said.
The Party also stressed that, although the dissolution of the government and the parliament was necessary to reduce the current political tension, this will not solve the frequent political crisis being suffered by Kuwait for decades. The crisis, it added, include denying the right of the Kuwaiti people to choose their elected government so that it may reflect their free will in accordance with Article 6 of the Constitution, which stipulates that the people is the source of authority.
Moreover, MP Jamaan Al-Harbash said that he will hold a press conference on Thursday at his diwaniya to commemorate the beating of MPs by security forces on December 2010.
The Umma party had boycotted the general polls in 2006 and 2009 but fielded candidates in 2008 although it did not win any seats. The group also had a number of supporters in the dissolved parliament.
Several political and youth groups and some former opposition MPs have urged fundamental political and constitutional reforms in Kuwait with some calling for a constitutional monarchy.