KUWAIT: Kuwaiti voters began casting the ballot on Thursdayto elect the fourth National Assembly in less than four years, looking to endpolitical crises that rocked the country during the past two decades, hinderingdevelopment despite a huge oil windfall. Voting started at noon and willcontinue until midnight because of the holy fasting month of Ramadan. Countingof votes will start immediately after the close of polling centers and resultsare expected in the morning.

There was a heavy turnout at some polling stations in someconstituencies with long queues of male and female voters waiting for theirturn, images on state-run Kuwait TV showed. Voting was slower at centers inother constituencies, but is expected to pick up strongly at night after votersbreak their fast and perform special Ramadan tarawih prayers.

A Kuwaiti woman casts her ballot.

A Kuwaiti man displays his citizenship document.

Kuwaitis look for their names on electoral lists to cast their votes.

KUWAIT: Kuwaiti women display their citizenship documents as they arrive to vote in parliamentary elections at a polling station on April 4, 2024. -- Photos by Yasser Al-Zayyat

A Kuwaiti man casts his ballot.

The elections department has allocated 123 polling centersseparately for men and women. The health ministry has mobilized 140 medicalcenters to assist voters. Defense Minister and acting Interior Minister SheikhFahad Al-Yousef Al-Sabah visited several polling centers after voting began.Two-hundred candidates including 13 females are contesting for the 50-seatparliament. During a lackluster campaign, candidates have urged voters toparticipate in large numbers despite repeated elections over a short duration.

In his Ramadan speech on Tuesday, HH the Amir Sheikh MishalAl-Ahmad Al-Sabah called on voters to participate in large numbers and to electthe best candidates who would serve Kuwait. The snap polls were called after HHthe Amir dissolved the 2023 Assembly after just eight months in office whensome MPs made remarks deemed offensive to him. Forty-six members of thedissolved house, in addition to 20 former MPs from previous assemblies, arebidding for re-election. 

Since 2006, no National Assembly has completed its four-yearterm except the 2016-2020 parliament. During that period, the Assembly wasdissolved seven times and annulled by the constitutional court on threeoccasions leading to a state of political chaos that hindered development andmega projects. 

The issue of citizenship figured prominently during thecampaign as the interior ministry revoked the citizenship of over 50 people onthe grounds they were obtained through illegal means. The ministry on Wednesdaynight withdrew the citizenship of another 27 people on the same grounds.