KUWAIT CITY, May 25: The Criminal Court has fined 20 Bani Ghanim Tribe members KD5,000 each for participating in the 2020 primary elections in the Second Constituency, while the other accused were acquitted. On the other hand, former MP and Third Constituency candidate Sa’adoun Hammad disclosed that employment is one of his priorities in case he wins in the upcoming parliamentary election. He stressed the need for the government to provide jobs for all graduates who should occupy positions that match their specializations. He said many citizens, who specialized in oil engineering on overseas scholarship, are working in the ministries of Awqaf, Islamic Affairs and Health.

Former MP and Third Constituency candidate Abdulkareem Al-Kandari urged all eligible voters to participate in the upcoming election, warning that low voters turnout will pave the way for those who will make laws against the interests of the people as it happened in 2013. He called on the citizens to ignore claims that the parliamentary experience of Kuwait has been a failure.

“Who has been failing since 1962, the parliament or the government? Since then, we have witnessed rigging of parliamentary elections, climate crisis and Iraqi invasion. Throughout that period, the people never told the government ‘this is your last chance’. Therefore, the people will never allow anyone to tell them that this is their last chance,” he added.

He then stressed the need for the next legislature to clearly present its agenda for every parliamentary year in order to prevent chaos. He said the Constitutional Court Law must be amended or his bill on the Court of Appeals should be ratified. He argued that the results of elections and the fate of parliaments should not be based on the judge’s opinion.
He suggested limiting the period for the Constitutional Court to rule on petitions against decrees on dissolving the legislature to two weeks maximum. He said it is no longer acceptable that the Constitutional Court takes months to issue a ruling to nullify the legislature and then put the nation back to square one.

He explained the Election Law must be amended to provide a proper environment for parliamentary action. He recommended the adoption of the partylist proportional representation to improve parliamentary work and for the MPs to have collective programs. He added the one-man-one vote system makes it very difficult for the voters to decide whom to vote for; because more than one candidate could be deserving of a citizen’s vote, but he is obliged to choose only one candidate.

Meanwhile, Al-Qyass Center released the results of its poll on the preferred candidates of a random sample of voters in the Fourth Constituency as follows:

1. Shuaib Al-Muwaizri 2. Muhammad Hayef 3. Obaid Al-Wasmi 4. Marzouq Al-Khalifa 5. Mubarak Al-Hajraf 6. Abdullah Fehad 7. Saad Al-Khanfour 8. Mubarak Al-Tasha 9. Thamer Al-Suwait 10. Muhammad Al-Rejaib 11. Fayez Al-Jomhour 12. Badr Sayyar Al-Shammari 13. Muaz Al-Duwaila 14. Badri Al-Majedi 15. Fawaz Al-Jades 16. Muhammad Al-Fajji 17. Fawaz Menshed 18. Meteb Al-Rathaan

By Saeed Mahmoud Saleh Arab Times Staff