Manama: Thirty more Kuwaitis have joined the growing list of candidates for the parliament elections to be held on February 2.
However, none of them was a woman, keeping the number of women who have signed up to covet seats in the 50-member parliament to 13 out of a total of 252 hopefuls.
Slightly more than 400,000 Kuwaitis will cast their ballots to choose the new parliament as elections campaigning heats up amid reports that some of the candidates may face legal action for taking part in banned pre-voting qualifications held by five large tribes in the Fifth Constituency.
The tradition by the tribes to select the candidates they will field in the national elections is banned by law and the Kuwait transparency Society, tasked by the authorities to monitor the elections, has submitted a report on the pre-qualification voting last Saturday.
The interior ministry said that it had six hours of recordings showing the preparations for the pre-voting, the sifting through the ballots and the announcement of the results.
The videos also prove the participation in military and security staff in the process, the ministry said.
Initial reports seem to reinforce a general feeling that most of the former lawmakers who were investigated this month for allegedly receiving "political money" to influence their votes in the outgoing parliament will not be re-elected in February.
The 13 ex-MPs have repeatedly denied the charges.
