Opposition keeps majority after Kuwait parliamentary elections

Kuwait’s first parliamentary election under the new Emir Sheikh Meshal Al Ahmad Al Sabah has resulted in few changes.

Opposition lawmakers maintained a majority in parliament, results showed on Friday, after the country’s third parliamentary vote in 3 years.

The results of Thursday’s poll showed only 11 new members of parliament, out of a total of 50 elected MPs in the country.

Opposition candidates won 29 seats in the 50-member assembly, according to results carried by the official KUNA news agency, matching the outcome of last year’s election.

  A woman casts her ballot in Kuwait City.

The make-up of the new parliament is very similar to the outgoing one, with all but 11 lawmakers retaining their seats.

Results on Friday showed a single female candidate was elected, the same as in the previous parliament, while Shiite Muslim lawmakers secured 8 seats, one more than last year.

Seats for the Islamic Constitutional Movement, which represents the Kuwaiti branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, fell to one from the previous three.

“No radical change was expected in the results,” said Bader Al Saif, assistant professor of history at Kuwait University. “This is one of the lowest change ratios,” he said.

Turnout for Thursday’s election was around 62 per cent after polling stations closed at midnight, the information ministry said.

Agencies