[Female voters lined up in Kuwait to cast their votes in the 2020 Parliamentary Elections held on Saturday.]
Kuwait City: As many as 25 sitting MPs and all female candidates who contested the 2020 Parliamentary Elections in Kuwait have lost, locald election authorities said Sunday.
According to the result declared by the electoral committee, 44 sitting MPs out of the total 50 had contested the 2020 parliamentary election. But, only 19 of them won while the remaining 25 failed to get another chance.
In another development, none of the female candidates who contested the 2020 National Assembly election in Kuwait could win.
As many as 31 women candidates were in the fray. But none of them could make it to the National Assembly. Compared to previous years, this was the highest number of women to have ever run for parliament since they were given the right to vote and run for office in 2005.
In a report, the Kuwait News Agency said that 342 candidates across five electoral districts in the country ran for the 50 seats, compared with 293 candidates in the 2016 elections.
Out of the 342 candidates who ran, there are several MPs who will be joining the legislative branch for the first time.
There are 567,694 eligible voters in Kuwait, and the oil-rich state saw a huge voter turnout - a whopping 60%, despite Covid-19 threat.
The 2020 Kuwait elections were held under strict health guidelines. Despite health restraint, enthusiasm ran so high that voters complained of long lines and crowded polling stations. The voting process started at 8 a.m. Saturday and continued till 8 p.m.
Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah on Sunday congratulated the winners of the parliamentary elections that took place the previous day.
In a statement sent to winners in National Assembly (parliament) elections, the Emir expressed content for the trust they were bestowed with by citizens, wishing them would succeed in serving their constituents and their homeland and in contributing to the development of the homeland and its prosperity, reports Xinhua news agency.
For the National Assembly, also called as Majlis al-Umma, 50 members are directly elected in multi-seat constituencies by simple majority vote and 15 ex-officio members are appointed by the prime minister.
There are no official political parties in Kuwait and all candidates for office stand as independents. There are, however, various interest groups that function similar to political parties, such as Islamists, secular liberals, and tribal factions.
For all the latest News, Opinions and Views, download ummid.com App.
Select Language To Read in Urdu, Hindi, Marathi or Arabic.
