KUWAIT CITY, Sept 7: The ten-day registration period for citizens who intend to stand for the 2022 parliamentary elections ended Wednesday, with a total of 376 candidates — 349 men and 27 women; while six candidates have withdrawn so far. Twenty six citizens, including three women, filed their candidacies on the last day of the specified registration period. Six candidates, one of whom is a woman, registered in the First Constituency — Husain Ahmed Al-Shamali, Abdulrazaq Muhammad Haidar, Fakher Ali Al-Bahrani, Husain Taher, Fakher Al-Ali and Samera Yousef Al-Shatti.

Eight male candidates registered in the Second Constituency — Jaber Marzouq Al- Bazzali, Hamad Eidan Al-Rasheed, De’eij Barrak Abdullatif, Adel Essa Al-Yahya, Abdulrahman Saleh Al-Jeran, Abdullah Husain Al- Heraiji, Abdullah Salem Al-Saadani and Mesfer Salem Muhammad.

Two male candidates registered in the Third Constituency — Muhammad Yaaqoub Sarkhouh and Meshari Hamad Al-Marahgi.

Six candidates, including one woman, registered in the Fourth Constituency — Ahmed Khedr Al-Anzi, Ahmed Owayed Al- Anzi, Fahd Ali Al-Sayegh, Fahd LafiAl-Anzi, Fawaz Mensher Al-Dhufairi and Moudhi Muhammad Al-Mutairi.

Four candidates, including one woman, registered in the Fifth Constituency — Ali Fahd Al-Ajmi, Mansour Selaiham Al-Ajmi, Nasser Jassem Al-Sarraf and Ashwaq Nafei Al-Anzi.

Withdrawn The Fifth Constituency has the highest number of candidates with 101, while the First Constituency has the lowest with 53. The number of candidates who have withdrawn from the race has reached 11 so far. According to the Elections Law, candidates can withdraw until seven days before the election.

On the other hand, Director General of the Legal Affairs General Department in the Ministry of Interior Colonel Salah Al-Shatti confirmed that the concerned judicial committee has started evaluating the candidacy forms; so the candidates found to have failed to fulfill the requirements will be disqualified from standing for elections. Meanwhile, former National Assembly Speaker Marzouq Al-Ghanim has announced that he will not stand for the upcoming elections. He clarified that he will not retire as a politician, because he will continue supporting Arab and Muslim issues. He added that he will stand for elections in the future and that he will return stronger.

Fourth Constituency candidate Moudhi Al- Mutairi said Kuwaiti women in the executive and legislative authorities have disappointed citizens because of their poor performance. She cited the one-man-one-vote system as one of the obstacles that women are facing in their bid to win in the elections, as well as the disappointment of citizens due to the incompetent female MPs. She intends to submit bills on amending the National Assembly Decree to clearly specify the procedures for dismissing the speaker if proven to have violated the Election Law and other laws, as well as specifying the maximum term for the Prime Minister in order to prevent citizens from holding demonstrations on the streets to demand for the leader’s dismissal. She called on her fellow candidates in the Fourth Constituency to debate in public and discuss vital issues.

Head of Kuwait Anti-Corruption Authority (Nazaha) Mohammad Al-Otaibi praised on Wednesday the Ministry of Interior and the security personnel for their hard work during the campaigns for the National Assembly elections. In a press release, Al-Otaibi noted that the number of parliamentary hopefuls has reached 376 so far. He expressed his wishes for the electoral process to go as smooth as possible under the leadership of his highness the Amir Sheih Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, and his Deputy the Crown Prince Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah By Saeed Mahmoud Saleh Arab Times Staff