Manama: A total of 361 Kuwaitis will be running in the elections for a parliament in February, officials said at the end of the ten-day registration process.
According to the figures, 332 men and 29 women have signed up as candidates in the national election on February 2 when around 400,000 Kuwaitis are scheduled to cast their ballots for the 50-seat parliament.
On the last day, 46 people, 40 men and six women, added their names to the list of hopefuls, ranging from religiously conservative figures to liberals vying for the constitutionally powerful green seats under the dome.
The outgoing parliament was dissolved following the resignation of the government as a two-step solution to bitter standoffs that pitted cabinet ministers and opposition lawmakers who used all available potential as well as the street to force the prime minister, Shaikh Nasser Al Mohammad, to step down.
A decision by the Emir to dissolve the parliament upon a recommendation from the government waded into controversy after some former lawmakers said that it was not constitutional in the absence of a cabinet with full powers.
However, other experts insisted that the decision was constitutional and that there was no legal ground for disputing the dissolution decision.
Sa'adoon Hamad Al Utaiba, a former lawmaker, filed a suit to suspend the decision to dissolve the parliament and to call for the election of new MPs. A court said that it would look into it in January 5.
The major issue during the registration process was the legal action taken against the tribes that held preliminary elections to choose their candidates for the elections.
The pre-voting operations are banned under the law and the Kuwait Transparency Society and the police joined hands to identify those who were involved in them and to take them to justice.
