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| Arabia |
| Kuwait election brings divisions to the fore |
| 2013-07-25 |
| From boycotting ballots to storming parliament, each time Kuwait heads into parliamentary elections the backstory seems to overshadow the vote. Yet the revolving-door series of elections could have an impact not only on this tiny, oil-rich state, and the rest of the region. For the election on Saturday to pick a new 50-seat parliament — the most empowered elected political body in the Gulf — there might be another boycott, but the real question is whether the vote will ease the internal pressures on Kuwait’s government. The challenges come from an emboldened opposition that includes groups ideologically linked to Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood on the one hand, and on the other, liberals angered by crackdowns such as prison sentences over social media posts. Washington is deeply vested in Kuwait’s stability as a critical link in the Pentagon’s military array against nearby Iran. Kuwait hosts thousands of U.S. soldiers in the largest deployment of American ground forces in the region. The main test is whether the election outcome will restore credibility to a political system that appears stuck in a cycle of disputes. “I think there is not much enthusiasm for the elections in general,” said Saad bin Tefla, a Kuwaiti professor and political analyst. “Counting the upcoming elections, the people of Kuwait will have gone to the polls three times (since February last year). It’s humiliating.” Last December, there was an election boycott by an unusual alliance of Islamists, tribal factions and Western-oriented liberals. Before voting in February 2012, Arab Spring-inspired tensions had grown so high that Kuwait’s ruler disbanded parliament after opposition-led protesters stormed the chamber. But Kuwait represents the boldest Gulf experiment in permitting political influence outside palace walls. Kuwait’s ruling family controls all key government positions, yet nowhere else in the Gulf can elected lawmakers block initiatives or question officials, calling in Cabinet ministers for grilling over alleged mismanagement and other issues. The escalating friction has turned Kuwaiti politics into a complicated web of legal challenges, boycotts and crackdowns over Internet posts deemed insulting to the emir, Shaikh Sabah Al Ahmed Al Sabah. The timing of Saturday’s election underlines the extent of the crisis — holding the vote during the holy month of Ramadan and its dawn-to-dusk fasting. The election was called after Kuwait’s top court dissolved parliament in June. But it let stand the Amir’s decree changing the voting rules to one vote per person. Previously, each voter was allowed four votes, all for one or for several candidates. Critics claimed that encouraged vote-buying and bolstered clan-run political blocs. The emir’s edict ignited widespread outrage, spawning street clashes and the formation of another odd alliance of pro-reform liberals and conservative Islamists pledging to sit out the election in protest. Liberals joined the boycott over anger that the emir used a decree to change the voting rules rather than go through parliament. The boycott front appears to unraveling, but standing firm is Kuwait’s version of the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamic Constitutional Movement, or ICM. Dismay over the toppling of Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi and his Brotherhood-led government — and the backing by Kuwait and other Gulf nations of the new military-led leadership there — has widened the rifts between the ICM and Kuwait’s rulers. There is also the possibility of even more aggressive protests and opposition by the group after the election. The ICM denies any direct connect with Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood. They had a near-break after many Brotherhood members outside Kuwait backed Iraq’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait. Ties have improved in recent years, and the ICM has expanded its political reach, leaving Kuwait at odds with many Gulf partners that strongly oppose any presence of the Brotherhood as a potential threat to their rule. At a political rally in Kuwait last week, hundreds of ICM members denounced Kuwait and other nations that have pledged money to the new Egyptian government. Shafeeq Ghabra, a Kuwait-based political science professor, said the new election “postponed inevitable clashes,” but risks remain that opposition groups may stop considering parliament the best place to make their voices heard. “People will resort to other means if they stop believing in the parliament, and that’s slowly becoming the case,” Ghabra said. “People will resort to their tribes and sects, and this only makes it worse for Kuwait.” |
| Posted by:Steve White |