Manama: Kuwaitis in three of the country’s five electoral constituencies have been casting their ballots to elect five new lawmakers who would replace the ones who had resigned.

Officials said that the by-elections voting process was moving as planned amid expectations that more people would cast their ballots in the afternoon.

According to figures released in the Kuwaiti capital, 247,801 voters are eligible to cast their ballots for the five new MPs in the five constituencies.

The seats in the parliament, the oldest in the region, became vacant after the resignations of the lawmakers were accepted on May 15 by their fellow MPs. The sitting parliament was voted in on July 27, 2013.

In their resignation letter, the lawmakers had claimed that the government had “prevented the launch of quizzing, did not respond to parliamentary inquiries, did not accomplish projects that truly benefit the public and covered up corruption,” the State Minister for Cabinet Affairs Shaikh Mohammad Al Abdallah Al Sabah, said, Kuwait News Agency (Kuna) reported.

However, the minister deemed the accusations as “challenging reality and facts and having no basis for the truth.” Riyadh Al Adsani and Ali Al Rashed from the Second Constituency, Abdul Kareem Al Kandari and Safa Al Hashem from the Third Constituency and Hussain Quwaian Al Mutairi from the Fourth Constituency pulled out of the 50-seat parliament. The high-profile case, prompted Emir Shaikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah to appeal for calm in a televised address on Wednesday. The ruler urged Kuwaitis to allow the judiciary to handle the issue.

On Thursday, 72 candidates, including four women, are seeking to replace them. These include 22 in the Second Constituency, 31 in the Third Constituency and 19 in the Fourth Constituency.

According to the Supreme Elections Commission, the number of eligible voters in the Second Constituency is 50,704, including 23,986 men and 26,718 women, 78,601, including 35,838 men and 42,763 women, in the Third Constituency and 118,496, including 54,319 men and 64,177 women, in the Fourth Constituency.

Some opposition figures have been calling for the boycott of the elections, arguing that the parliament should be dissolved and that the government should resign.