Sixty-one sign candidacy for election

This news has been read 9535 times!

KUWAIT CITY, May 6: A total of 61 citizens, including one woman, filed their candidacies for the 2023 parliamentary elections on Friday and Saturday – first two days of the 10-day registration period for candidates. Following are the 30 candidates who registered on Friday:

First Constituency: Ahmed Lari, Osama Al-Shaheen and Hassan Ibrahim Bu Abbas Second Constituency: Hamad Al- Harshani, Hamad Al-Matar, Salem Rashed Al-Saleh, Saad Khalid Al-Fajji, Abdulwahab Al-Essa, Fahd Sayyah Bu Sheba, Mona Muhammad Al-Kandari and Nawaf Al-Azmi

Third Constituency: Ibrahim Dashti, Saadoun Hammad, Fares Al-Otaibi, Mahmoud Khamis Al-Failakawi and Hani Hassan Ali Husain

Fourth Constituency: Badr Shallal Al-Mutairi, Badr Nasser Al-Mujaweb, Bakr Badi Al- Rashedi, Khalifa Muhammad Al-Khalifa, Salah Muhammad Al- Harbi and Ali Jaber Al Dhufairi

Fifth Constituency: Fawaz Meteb Al- Daihani, Khalid Rashed Al-Saddi, Khalid Al-Otaibi, Saad Abdullah Al-Kandari, Saleh Faleh Al- Azmi, Abdullah Ibrahim Al-Tamimi, Faisal Muhammad Al-Kandari and Marzouq Faleh Al-Hebeini

Candidates
The 31 candidates who registered on Saturday are as follows:

First Constituency: Jamal Sulaiman Al-Qabaie, Husain Nasser Al-Heraiti, Saleh Ahmed Ashour, Ali Hassan Jaafar and Ali Husain Muhammad Second Constituency: Ahmed Muhsen Al-Shatti, Badr Husain Ashour, Thamer Khalid Al-Anzi, Khalil Husain Al-Saleh, Shuaib Ali Shaaban, Farz Mohammad Al-Daihani, Falah Faraj Al-Mutairi , Fahd Ayed Al-Benyan and Muhammad LafiAl-Azmi

Third Constituency: Jarrah Khalid Al-Fawzan Fourth Constituency: Badr Sayyar Al-Shemmari, Fayez Ghannam Al-Jomhour, Falah Sultan Al-Mutairi, Fawaz Soud Al-Azmi, Mubarak Haif Al-Hajraf and Marzouq Sultan Al-Mutairi

Fifth Constituency: Ahmed Mutairi Al- Azmi, Jaber Saad Al-Azmi, Jaber Awad Al-Mutairi, Khalil Muhammad Al-Obaidli, Rashed Fares Al-Azmi, Soud Al-Asfour Al-Hajri, Abdulhadi Hadi Al-Azmi, Falah Abdullah Al-Subaie, Majed Musaed Al- Mutairi and Nasser Saad Al-Doussari

Meanwhile, Minister of Oil and Minister of State for National Assembly Affairs Badr Al- Mullah resigned as he intends to run for the parliamentary elections. Former MP and Third Constituency candidate Saadoun Hammad said political instability has been hindering achievements. He intends to submit a bill on increasing the citizens’ salaries and granting incentive to all citizens like the KD3,000 given to retirees earlier.

He added that other Gulf countries have had remarkable achievements, because they enjoy political stability even if they have no parliament. He called for ensuring justice and transparency of parliamentary elections by using projectors to show the counting of votes to the citizens and media. Former MP and First Constituency candidate Osama Al-Shaheen affirmed his commitment to push for the implementation of reforms. He stressed the need to break the connection between power and wealth in order to allocate public funds in the interest of citizens, instead of a few traders and influential individuals. Former MP and Fifth Constituency candidate Khalid Al-Otaibi said the 2022 election was the fairest ever, as it was carried out according to the address in the civil identification cards of voters and there was no vote-buying considering the former MPs accused of buying votes did not win in that election.

Elected
Former MP and Fifth Constituency Marzouq Al-Hebeini candidate believes Ahmed Al- Saadoun will most likely be elected as National Assembly speaker if he wins in the election. Al-Hebeini chaired the inauguration session of the 2022 Parliament, during which Al-Saadoun was elected speaker. He then unveiled his plan to run for deputy speaker if he wins a seat in the next legislature.

On the other hand, the Peace and Justice Alliance chose former MP Saleh Ashour as their candidate for the First Constituency and former MP Khalil Al- Saleh for the Second Constituency. Former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Anas Al-Saleh announced that he will not stand for the elections due to judicial and political issues that affected the parliamentary path in recent months.

He stressed the need for the executive and legislative authorities to carefully study the reasons behind the frequent political crises, which negatively affected the interests of the public. In addition, acting Assistant Undersecretary for Publishing Affairs at the Ministry of Information LafiAl-Sebaie has affirmed that the ministry is keen on implementing decision number 17/2023 regarding the media coverage of the parliamentary election.

He said the ministry allocated a special room with a podium and equipment for the candidates and journalists to conduct presentations and release press statements in order to prevent ambush interviews with candidates, during which strange questions are raised; thereby, distorting the democratic process. He added the ministry issues licenses to media institutions to conduct election polls. Meanwhile, work is already underway at the election registration department to issue coverage permits for journalists who will report about the upcoming parliamentary polls.

The process is conducted in coordination with the Ministry of Interior, said LafiAl-Sebayee, the assistant undersecretary at the Ministry of Information. Speaking during a visit to the press center at the registration department, Al- Sebayee said that there was an agreement with the MoI to allocate jurisdictions of arrangements inside the press center to the Ministry of Information. MoI personnel, according to the agreement, will oversee the process outside the center. The Department of Elections Affairs at the Kuwaiti Ministry of Interior started Friday morning receiving applications for the National Assembly elections for the 17th legislative term.

On Thursday, the Ministry of Interior announced it would commence receiving male and female candidates to parliament elections 2023 as of Friday, with the process lasting until the 14th of May. Candidacy will remain open for 10 days including public holidays from 7.30 am to 1:30 pm (local time), after the Official Gazette (Kuwait Al-Youm) published the decree calling for parliamentary elections. The Kuwaiti cabinet on Wednesday approved a draft decree calling for parliamentary elections on June 6, 2023.

Minister of Information, Minister of State for Youth Affairs Abdulrahman Al- Mutairi on Thursday issued two ministerial decisions regulating media and tourist activities and settings terms for the media coverage and advertisement for the upcoming parliamentary and municipal elections. The ministry, in a statement, called upon the media, electronic media and the press to abide by the Ministerial Resolution 17/2023 with respect of the terms and rules governing the media coverage, the advertisement and promotion of the National Assembly and Municipal Council’s elections.

The ministry official spokesperson said the decision includes amendments to the Ministerial Resolution 833/2022 regarding the regulation of permits for the media activities and the fees. The permit applicant must admit that he (or she) had not been stripped of the license in the past. Murad indicated that the decision included rules regarding the permits for conducting statistics, public opinion surveys regarding the elections, where the permit would remain valid for two weeks after final declaration of the elections’ results. Regarding the Ministerial Resolution 17/2023, Murad said it tackled terms of media coverage and promotion for the parliamentary and municipal polls, where the relevant rules would be in force during the duration as off publishing the decision or decree calling for the election in the official Gazette until final declaration of the elections’ results. He affirmed that the minister’s decision is intended to safeguard the electoral process and penalizing any wrongdoer. Meanwhile, LafiSbayee, the assistant undersecretary for the press and publications, said there would be a special center for the media personnel in front of the elections affairs headquarters to facilitate issuance of the permits and statements related to the process.

This news has been read 9535 times!