By Nawara Fattahova

KUWAIT: Eight new residential areas in Kuwait are not included in the five electoral districts, which has resulted in some voters living in these areas to lose their right to vote in the upcoming National Assembly elections. The eight excluded areas are Anjefa, Abu Al-Hasania, Abu Fatira, Nahdha, Jaber Al-Ahmad, Masayel, Northwest Sulaibikhat and Sabah Al-Ahmad.

Abdullah Al-Ajmi, a resident of Abu Fatira, is one of many citizens who lives in an excluded area but has registered outside it. "I will vote in Qurain as I was registered there during the previous elections. Even though I have changed my address, I'm still registered in the election rolls at my previous address. Abu Fatira should be part of the fifth district, but it hasn't been added yet," he told Kuwait Times.

"My son lost his right to vote in these elections as he turned 21 this year, and we were already living in Abu Fatira. He wasn't registered at our previous address at the time of the elections in 2016 as he hadn't reached the legal age of voting. I'm sure that every house in this area has at least one person who is not able to vote due to the same obstacle," added Ajmi.

Ajmi blames the parliament for not passing a law to add these areas to the electoral constituencies. "I think MPs only care about their personal benefits and are not interested in registering these new areas, as they don't know the residents of these areas and they assume that we may affect their votes and they may lose the elections," he pointed out.

Col Dr Ahmad Al-Hajri, Head of the Elections Affairs Department at the Ministry of Interior, said in his statement earlier to local media that the ministry presented a draft law in this regard to the National Assembly, which is in charge of issuing a law to add these areas to the electoral districts, but the parliament hasn't issued the law until now.

Abu Abdullah, another resident of Abu Fatira, said he is voting for his cousin who is running from Sabahiya. "I'm registered there, and all my children are also registered in Sabahiya, so I'm not affected by this problem. But I admit this situation is oppressive for many Kuwaitis who were denied their right to vote this year. I think a temporary solution could be applied, which is allowing voters in these new areas to register in the elections rolls according to their previous address," he said.

Former MP and candidate Saadoun Hammad stressed in a TV interview that he worked on passing this law, but for some reason it was delayed. He also said that this problem may have serious consequences. "If any of those who lost their right to vote go to court, the elections may be canceled," noted Hammad.

There are no official published figures on how many citizens are disenfranchised due to the exclusion of these eight areas. There are five electoral districts in Kuwait, each allowed to send 10 members to parliament. Total registered voters for 2020 are 567,694. There are 84,822 in the first district; 64,965 in the second district; 101,492 in the third district; 150,193 in the fourth district and 166,222 in the fifth district.