Saad Al Ajmi: Gerrymandering and reform in Kuwait

The time has come for Kuwaitis to admit that their country is not a democracy. For years, Kuwait has been, by regional standards, a democratic country, with freedom of speech and expression being protected to a large degree.

Kuwait has never held political prisoners and has always had a vibrant parliament, the National Assembly. The Kuwaiti constitution, first promulgated in 1962, makes Kuwait the oldest constitutional monarchy in the region. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Kuwait thrived as a centre for political debate, cultural activity and even sports in the region.

Yet, Kuwait has no circulation of power, no legally recognised political parties, and no comprehensive electoral franchise. Only about 15 per cent of Kuwaiti nationals are eligible to vote – males 21 years of age or older. So much for Kuwaiti democracy!

Claims of vote-rigging

Over the years, the country's parliamentary elections have been marred by claims of vote-rigging. For instance, in 1967 serious allegations of official vote fraud and governmental favours surfaced. In addition, the National Assembly has itself been dissolved twice: from 1976 until 1981, and from 1986 until 1992. These very unconstitutional dissolutions merely reflect the fact that there are forces within the ruling family and the nation's power centres that are opposed to democracy and the participation of the masses in decision making.

Kuwait's standing National Assembly, elected in July 2003, has been preoccupied with limiting and redrawing the country's constituency map. The argument made is that small constituencies are susceptible to vote buying, and clan and tribal dominance. In addition, the current parliamentary make-up, and hence its weakness, is a direct result of the proliferation of small constituencies.

Larger constituencies provide better and wider ranging choices for the make-up of the electoral body. Thus, the de-limitation and redrawing of the constituency map is an opening for the real reform so badly needed in Kuwait today.

Those arguing for such gerrymandering, as constituency shifting is termed in America, admit that this constituency remedy will not be a magic solution for all ills of Kuwaiti democracy, but do see it as a prerequisite for dealing with ills such as vote buying, and clandestine and sectarian influences.

In reality, the current constituency make-up is unconstitutional, as it was created during the unconstitutional dissolution of the National Assembly in 1981. Beginning with its first parliamentary elections in 1963, Kuwait had a 10-constituency system, which seemed to work satisfactorily and provided relatively equitable representation for the society. However, in 1981, the Government issued a gerrymandering decree that fragmented the 10 constituencies into 25.

The gerrymandering was so carefully mapped that some constituencies are combinations of geographically disjointed neighbourhoods. For example, Sabah Al Salem is considered part of the Ahmadi constituency, although the Riqqa constituency lies between the two; Salmiya is considered part of the Salwa constituency although Rumaithiya constituency lies between the two.

It doesn't take a genius to figure out the reasoning behind the fragmentation of the constituencies: divide and rule, fragment and control.

When the National Assembly reconvened in 1981, it, of course, had to ratify or reject laws decreed during its suspension. It came as no surprise that the body, elected under the new 25-constituency system, automatically ratified the gerrymandering law that had brought it into existence. Had it voted to reject the law under which it had been elected, the National Assembly would, in effect, have succeeded only in dissolving itself. Thus, the 25-constituency system has been maintained for the past quarter century.

The ills of and the wrongdoings in the electoral process conducted under that system have become clearer with each passing day. Some constituencies have more than 11,000 voters, while others have less than 3,000.

In the most recent elections, held last year, some candidates with more than 3,000 votes failed to win a seat, and others with just 500 votes won seats. Slowly, people are beginning to realise that positive gerrymandering is a key to plugging many of the holes and expanding the electoral franchise in Kuwait's democracy. Hopes were raised when the roles of prime minister and crown prince were separated – for the first time since Kuwait achieved independence in 1961. Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah became the prime minister, whereas Sheikh Saad Al Abdulla Al Salem Al Sabah retained the position of crown prince.

Some went so far as to posit that that separation of roles would mark the beginning of true democracy in Kuwait. Time has proven them wrong.

It had been hoped that the National Assembly session held last Saturday would be a turning point in the reform process in Kuwait. One of a number of gerrymandering bills was expected to be passed. Liberals and Islamists alike felt that the number of constituencies needed to be decreased, and agreed upon the various scenarios.

The government itself presented two bills of its own, each with a different constituency map, proposing a reduction in the number of constituencies to 10.

Radical decrease

Another bill proposed a more radical decrease to five constituencies. Yet, none of the bills were passed, and the issue was tabled until parliament reconvenes in October.

It came as no surprise that parliamentarians suspected of vote-buying, and playing on sectarian and tribal allegiances, opposed any change in the status quo.

To quote a veteran parliamentarian recounting traditional wisdom: "Sure, he whose business is doing well will praise the market."

Quite astonishingly, however, the government did not support any of the bills, not even its own, indicating that it does not sincerely want to change the make-up of the constituencies or improve parliamentary performance.

In a nutshell, the government does not really want reform.

Many in Kuwait see this obvious game-playing by their government to impede positive gerrymandering as being indicative of its mentality, which has no place for reform.

The position Kuwait's government has taken on political constituencies, let alone real reform, is a grave disappointment to many of its citizens.

Dr. Saad Al Ajmi is a former Minister of Information in Kuwait, an academic and analyst. He can be contacted at sajmi@gulfnews.com