KUWAIT CITY, Sept 28: Kuwaiti voters, men and women, will go to the polls Thursday, in five electoral constituencies, to cast their votes and elect members of the National Assembly for the 17th legislative term of 2022. Voters will bear responsibility to reshape the course of the political scene and choose the right candidates that would best serve them and the nation. While being presented with the ballot paper, voters would recall His Highness the Amir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah’s speech, which was delivered on his behalf by His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Mishal Al- Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, stressing on choosing the strong, trustworthy, and faithful in Almighty Allah and then his country, and who puts the interest of Kuwait and its people above all.

Among the 305 candidates running for the National Assembly elections, Kuwaitis will choose 50 members to represent them in Parliament, with 795,920 eligible voters. The voting process, which takes place according to the one-vote system, will start from 8:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m. local time, after which heads of the electoral committees will announce the end of the voting process, and beginning of counting followed by the announcement of the official results.

The First Constituency will have 48 candidates and the number of eligible Voters is 100,185.

The Second Constituency will also have 48 candidates competing to win the votes of 90,478 eligible Voters.

In the Third Constituency, 47 candidates are competing to win the votes out of 138,364 eligible Voters.

The Fourth Constituency will see 80 candidates competing to win votes out of 208,971 Voters.

Lastly, the Fifth Constituency will witness 82 candidates competing to win votes out of 257,913 Voters. In terms of eligible Voters, every Kuwaiti who has reached the age of 21 on polling day after he or she automatically registered in the Voters’ list, must bring his or her citizenship certificate and civil identifications to polling station.

In the event of losing the citizenship certificate, the Ministry of Interior’s General Administration of Nationality and Travel Documents is ready to receive the Voters on polling day and issue a certificate (To Whom It May Concern) enabling them to vote.

Voters could inquire about the polling stations via (Sahel) application or visit the website of the Ministry of Interior. The Ministry’s Elections Affairs Department has allocated a hotline number (1889-888) to respond to any inquiries from Voters from 8:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m.. The 2022 elections will be held in line with Decree No. 136 of August 2nd, 2022 to dissolve the previous Assembly due to “incompatibility, non-cooperation, differences, confl icts, giving priority to personal interests, including practices and behaviors that threaten national unity.” The political leadership decided “to resort to the people of Kuwait, respect their wishes, so that they can correct the course of the political scene in a manner that achieves the country’s best national interests.”

The political leadership also underlined to citizens the importance of the country’s future and requirements of the next phase to better elect representatives to refl ect their aspirations, achieves their hopes and implements their desires, expressing hope that the choice will not be based on bias to the sect, tribe or a group at the expense of the nation.”

Last August, also a Decree No. 147 of 2022 was issued setting September 29 as a day for voting, in which government departments would be on holiday. Preparations for voting day by government are finalized in order to provide the most suitable atmosphere for Voters to perform their national duty to the fullest. Police forces will be deployed to facilitate and simplify the procedures during voting day.

The Ministry of Education announced the designation of 123 schools as polling stations, including five schools, which were chosen as main committee, and 118 schools were chosen as sub-committees polling stations distributed in all five constituencies. Meanwhile, Director-General of Kuwait Municipality and Chairman of the Joint Committee for the National Elections (Umma 2022) Ahmad Al- Manfouhi said that they have adopted an integrated plan to organize and facilitate the voting process in cooperation with the Ministry of Interior and other bodies concerned with elections to highlight the country’s democratic practices in its finest depiction.

The Ministry of Information confirmed its readiness to carry out a comprehensive and detailed coverage through a network of correspondents, five external studios and a central studio for television coverage from 8 am to 8 pm, in addition to Studio 800 to cover vote counting hub and announcing the results swiftly and accurately. The election will be conducted according to Amiri Decree Five for 2022, which stipulates voting based on the address in the civil identification card in a bid to prevent manipulation of results; while Amiri Decree Six of 2022 stipulates the addition of 19 new residential areas in some constituencies as follows:

First Constituency: Anjafa Second Constituency: Nahda, Jaber Al-Ahmad, Shuwaikh Medical District, Northwest Sulaibikhat and Shuwaikh Industrial Area

Fourth Constituency: Taima’a, Naseem, Naeem, Qasr, West Abdullah Mubarak, Oyoun, Waha and South Abdullah Mubarak

Fifth Constituency: Sabah Al-Ahmad City, Abu Fatera, Khairan Residential Area, Abu Al-Hasaniya and Al-Masayel Meanwhile, National Assembly Secretary General Adel Al-Lugani warmly welcomed the delegations of journalists from other countries, including media practitioners from other Gulf nations.

These journalists will cover the National Assembly Election scheduled for Thursday. The Foreign Media Department at Ministry of Information invited these journalists who toured the Assembly building where they were briefed on the procedures and regulations on holding sessions and the parliamentary work mechanism. The delegations include senior journalist at the House of Commons Adel Darweesh who praised the democratic experience of Kuwait, pointing out that it is developing day after day. He also lauded the free media in the country and the multiple sources of information.

On the other hand, Editor-in-Chief of Saudi daily Okaz Khalid Sayem Al- Dahr affirmed that as a Gulf citizen, he is proud of the democratic experience of Kuwait; indicating this is a pioneering experience in the Gulf region. The Ministry of Interior declared on Wednesday that voters in the National Assembly 2022 elections must present an original identity card or the substitute temporary identification paper used in the polls.

The MoI said in a statement that Voters who lost their IDs should apply at the directorate general of citizenship and passports in the morning of the election day, tomorrow Thursday, to obtain “the certificate titled to whom is may concern” so they may be admitted at the ballot stations and allowed to cast their ballots. By Saeed Mahmoud Saleh Arab Times Staff and Agencies