Kuwait Times, Saturday, Sep 24, 2022 | Safar 28, 1444
313 remain in poll race
Kuwait:
As many as 313
candidates will run in the Sept 29 snap National Assembly polls after 65
candidates pulled out of the race at the close of withdrawals on Thursday. The
candidates include 291 males and 22 females, according to the election
department of the interior ministry. The figure however could change depending
on the verdicts of the country’s top courts, which will decide the fate of
around 10 candidates who have been barred by an interior ministry commission
because they were convicted over criminal and political offenses.
The country is divided into five electoral
districts, with each electing 10 MPs for the 50-seat National Assembly. There
are some 796,000 voters, of whom women voters are slightly more than their male
counterparts. The constitutional court, whose rulings are final and which looks
into constitutional matters, yesterday set Sunday as the date to issue its
verdict on whether a highly-controversial law is in line with the constitution.
The law, passed by the 2013 Assembly and amended by
the 2016 parliament, bars for life from running for public office all those
convicted of insulting the Almighty, prophets and HH the Amir. The law also
applies to older offenses. At the same time, the court of cassation was due to
convene on Thursday evening to discuss petitions filed by the government against
the 10 candidates, demanding that they should be barred from running in the
election. The court’s verdicts are final.