The last week of July was remarkable in Kuwait. Kuwaitis voted for another parliament again in the shadow of the 23rd anniversary of Saddam Hussain’s tragic invasion and occupation of Kuwait. What a week to remember and learn lessons from.
Over the last few years, I have written numerous articles on Kuwait’s byzantine politics. I’ve described it as a lingering malaise that needs a major overhaul to overcome the endless, annoying and chronic feuds between the two branches of the political system. That call became even more urgent with the repeated suspension of the feisty and outspoken parliament, forcing Kuwaitis to go to the polls multiple times to elect parliaments in what seems as the wilderness of a maze. Parliament was either suspended or upended by a court over irregularities and procedural errors. This, no doubt, has taken its toll on Kuwaiti voters, who have lost track of how many parliaments have been suspended by Emiri decrees or by Constitutional Court verdicts.
Since 2006, Kuwaitis have elected six parliaments in seven years, including three parliaments in less than a year-and-a-half and two parliaments in less than eight months. Each of these instances shatters previous records and adds to the misery and bewilderment of Kuwaitis, who like others who follow and are intrigued by Kuwaiti politics, keep wondering what is wrong and how it can be fixed.
Amending the election law by an Emiri emergency decree while the parliament was not in session was seen by the opposition as an unnecessary measure. From the opposition’s perspective, it was up to the newly-elected parliament to determine the new election law. This prompted the opposition to reject the Emiri decree and hold rallies leading to an unprecedented move to boycott the election. The results were astonishing. The new parliament had no opposition and at less than 40 per cent, the voter turnout was the lowest in Kuwait’s parliamentary election history.
The opposition considered its boycott a success and called the results a victory while the government carried on its work with a business-as-usual attitude. But it was clear that all was not well. The parliament seemed to be emasculated and without character and lacked its usual feistiness. The cabinet finally submitted its resignation in May 2013 following a series of grilling of ministers, including the prime minister. A month later, the Constitutional Court issued a decree upending the 14th parliament due to procedural error and upholding the constitutionality of the Emiri decree of amending the election law to limit the choices of voters to one vote rather than four. As a result, the opposition felt jilted, but nevertheless insisted on boycotting the election on the principle that only the elected parliament has the right to amend the electoral law. The election for the 14th parliament was thus set for July 27 — for the first time during Ramadan.
After the Constitutional Court verdict upholding the new election law, the boycott seemed to have fizzled out; the voter turnout was up to over 50 per cent. The big question in every Kuwaiti mind is: Will this election change the dynamics of Kuwaiti loggerhead politics? Will it break the malaise of Kuwait’s gridlock politics and deliver long overdue stability and political harmony that continues to be in short supply in Kuwait?
When Kuwaitis look back at the confused state of politics this is what they see. I will rephrase what I wrote back in last December following the election of the Kuwaiti parliament less than eight months ago in my column in Gulf News titled ‘The Deepening of the Kuwaiti Political Malaise’. I wrote: “Since 2006, Kuwaitis have been to the polls six times over the past seven years; have elected six parliaments, all of which were dissolved by Emiri decrees or upended by court verdicts, before the end of their terms. On top of that, Kuwait has witnessed the changing of three emirs, three prime ministers, three foreign ministers, dozen cabinets and two electoral laws. These changes have caused a lot of consternation and have led to a lot of disillusionment with the political system, especially with the heightened polarisation and fragmentation that have become the hallmark of Kuwaiti politics today.”
Furthermore, as I opined in another column titled ‘A sense of deja vu in Kuwait’ in Gulf News on June 23, “Kuwait has weathered the Arab Spring sweeping the region over the past two and a half years because its regime is not an absolute monarchy. The Kuwaiti parliament is known to get governments to resign, grill senior members of the ruling Al Sabah family who hold senior cabinet posts, and even question and force the prime minister to step down — all of this is a staple of Kuwaiti politics and was normal practice even before the much-touted Arab Spring.”
But the bitter fact remains that the ongoing political drama, the acrimonious relations and polarised Kuwaiti politics has stalled development for too long in a country that is experiencing annual budget surplus. This prompted Reuters to aptly capture the Kuwaiti scene in an article in November 2012, titled ‘Money-rich but backward: Politics, oil poison Kuwait economy’.
The new parliament seems to be markedly a better version than its predecessor, with greater representation to all stripes of Kuwaiti society, bringing with it a whiff of hope that somehow the resiliency of the Kuwaiti political system has finally kicked in and is steering Kuwait in the right direction. The uplifting speech by the emir also underscored the need for cooperation between the new parliament and cabinet to help Kuwait “embark on a promising new phase of development and progress to diversify Kuwait’s income and to follow up on the development plans and mega projects”. [Kuwait’s Emir yesterday issued a decree endorsing the country’s 33rd government since its independence in 1962. The new 16-minister formation, led by Prime Minister Shaikh Jaber Al Mubarak Al Hamad Al Sabah, includes two women, five deputy prime ministers and seven members of the ruling family].
Still, the bitter truth remains and the pessimists see that little has changed.
Clearly, Kuwaitis seem to clutch at the hope of change as they steadfastly keep voting. As someone said, “Hope is the little voice you hear that whispers ‘maybe’ when it seems the entire world is shouting ‘no’.”
It seems that Kuwaitis believe in that.
Professor Abdullah Al Shayji is the chairman of the Political Science Department, Kuwait University. You can follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/docshayji
