National Assembly (Kuwait)

National Assembly of Kuwait
11th Sesion
Type
Type	Unicameral
History
Founded	1963
Leadership
Speaker	Ahmed Al-Saadoun since 1 March 2012
Seats	50
Elections
Last election	May 16, 2009
Meeting place
File:2005-04-27 Koweït 003.jpg
Kuwait City Kuwait
Website
http://www.kna.kw/

The National Assembly of Kuwait, known as the Majlis Al-Umma ("House of the Nation") (Template:Lang-ar), is the legislature of Kuwait. The current speaker of the Assembly is Ahmed Al-Saadoun. The Emir unconstitutionally dissolved the National Assembly in 1986 and restored it after the Gulf War in 1992. The Emir has also constitutionally dissolved the Assembly several times—meaning that he dissolved it but allowed for elections immediately afterward.

Until recently, suffrage was limited to male Kuwaiti citizens above the age of 21 whose ancestors had resided in Kuwait since 1920, and adult males who have been naturalized citizens for at least 20 years. On May 16, 2005, the Assembly passed a law in support of women's suffrage, allowing women to vote and run for office. The fifty-seat assembly is elected every four years. Currently there are five geographically distributed electoral districts. Every eligible citizen is entitled to four votes, though one may choose to only cast one vote. The ten candidates with the most votes in each district win seats. Cabinet ministers (including the prime minister) are granted automatic membership in the Assembly, which increases the number of members in the assembly from fifty to sixty-six. The Cabinet ministers have the same rights as the elected MPs, with the following two exceptions: they do not participate in the work of committees, and they cannot vote when an interpolation leads to a no-confidence vote against one of the Cabinet members.

Building

Main article: Kuwait National Assembly Building

The parliament building was designed by Danish architect Jørn Utzon, who also designed the Sydney Opera House.

Dissolutions

The Emir of Kuwait has the power to dissolve the assembly and call for new elections within two months. The Emir has done so on five separate occasions. On two of those, the assembly was dissolved unconstitutionally, since no new elections were held within the legally required period, and the Emir of Kuwait then ruled by decree. The first case was from 1976 until 1981, and the second one from 1986 until 1992. On three other occasions, the Emir dissolved the Assembly and held new elections immediately afterward. This happened in 1999, in 2006, and most recently in December 2011 . The 2006 dissolution was brought by what is locally known as the Kuwaiti Orange Movement, when Kuwaitis held mass protests and demonstrations to demand that electoral districts be reduced in number from twenty-five to five.

List of members

District	Name	Affiliation	Religion	Prior experience	Education	Assumed office	Born in	Tribe
First	Abdullah Al-Roumi	Independent (Liberal-leaning)	Sunni	Lawyer	Law	1985	1949
First	Adnan Zahid Abdulsamad	National Islamic Alliance	Shia	Oil Ministry	Political Science	1981	1950
First	Faisal Duwaisan	Shia (Unaffiliated)	Shia	High School Diploma		2009	1964
First	Hassan Jawhar	Shia (Unaffiliated)	Shia	Professor at Kuwait University	PhD in Political Science	1996	1960
First	Hussain Al-Qallaf Al-Bahrani	Shia (Unaffiliated)	Shia		Sharia	1996	1958
First	Hussein Nasser Al-Huraiti	Independent (close to government)	Sunni	Judge, Lawyer	Law	2006	1962	Al-Awazem
First	Masuma Al-Mubarak	Liberal, Shia (Unaffiliated)	Shia	Professor, Kuwait University	Poli Sci PhD, University of Denver	2009	1952
First	Mikhled Al-Azmi	Islamist (Salafi)	Sunni	Municipal Council	Geography	1996	1961	Al-Awazem
First	Saleh Ashour	Justice and Peace Alliance	Shia	Kuwait Air Force	Economics	1999	1952
First	Yusif Al-Zalzala	Shia (Unaffiliated)	Shia	Dean, Kuwait University	PhD in Statistics, Colorado State University	2003	1959
Second	Abdul Rahman Al-Anjari	Liberal	Sunni		BA, Business Administration	2009	1957	Banu Tamim
Second	Adnan Al-Mutawa	Shia (Unaffiliated)	Shia		Engineering	2009	1954
Second	Ali Al-Rashid	National Democratic Alliance	Sunni	Lawyer	JD, International Arab University	2003	1967
Second	Jamaan Al-Harbash	Hadas	Sunni	Professor	PhD in Islamic Ideology	2006	1970
Second	Jassem Al-Kharafi	Independent (businessman/liberal)	Sunni	Director of Al-Kharafi Group	Business Administration, Manchester Trade Faculty	1975	1940
Second	Khalaf Dmaithir	Conservative	Sunni			2009	1946	Al-Enezi
Second	Khaled AlـSultan Bin Essa	Islamic Salafi Alliance	Sunni	Chairman of Kuwait Graduates Society		2008	1940
Second	Marzouq Al-Ghanim	Independent (businessman/liberal-leaning)	Sunni	Petrochemicals	Mechanical Engineering	2008	1968
Second	Mohammed AlـMutair	Islamist (businessman/Salafi)	Sunni	Investment Company	Business	2003	1969
Second	Salwa al-Jassar	Conservative	Sunni	Professor of Education, Kuwait University	MA and PhD in Education, University of Pittsburgh	2009	1957
Third	Aseel Al-Awadi	Liberal	Sunni	Municipal Professor, Kuwait University		2009	1969
Third	Adel Al-Saraawi	Islamist Independent	Sunni	Office for Assessment of Iraq Invasion Damage	Accounting	2003	1962
Third	Ahmed Al-Sadoun	Popular Action Bloc	Sunni		Literature	1975	1934
Third	Ali Al-Omair	Islamic Salafi Alliance	Sunni	Professor	PhD in Chemistry	2006	1958
Third	Faisal Al-Muslim Al-Otaib	Islamist (Independent)	Sunni	Professor	MA in Political History, University of Wales	2003	1962	Al-Otaibi
Third	Naji Abdalhadi	Independent	Sunni		Engineer	1992	1955
Third	Rola Dashti	Liberal, Shia (unaffiliated)	Shia		PhD in Population Economics, Johns Hopkins	2009	1964
Third	Roudhan Al-Roudhan	Conservative	Sunni		Diploma of Institute of Applied Sciences and Tech	2009	1961
Third	Saleh Al-Mulla	Liberal	Sunni	Diplomat	BA in Business, Kuwait University	2008	1971
Third	Waleed AlـTabtabaie	Islamist (Salafi)	Sunni	Professor, Kuwait University	PhD in Islamic Studies, Al-Azhar	1996	1964
Fourth	Ali Al-Daqbaashi	Islamist (close to government)	Sunni		Management	2003	1965	Al-Rashaydah
Fourth	Askar Al-Enezi		Sunni			2008		Al-Enezi
Fourth	Daifallah Bouramiya	Islamist (Independent)	Sunni	Doctor	MA in Public Health	2003	1957	Al-Mutairi
Fourth	Hussein Mazyid Al-Mutairi		Sunni			2009	1955	Al-Mutairi
Fourth	Mohammed Hayef AlـMutairi	Islamist (Salafi)	Sunni	Kuwait Municipality	Islamic Studies	2008	1964	Al-Mutairi
Fourth	Mubarak Al-Khirinj	Independent	Sunni			2009	1948	Al-Rashaydah
Fourth	Mubarak Al-Waalan	Conservative	Sunni		Political Science	2009	1959	Al-Mutairi
Fourth	Musallam AlـBarrak	Popular Action Bloc	Sunni	Municipal Council	Arabic literature	1996	1956	Al-Mutairi
Fourth	Saad AlـKhanfour Al-Rasheedi	Independent	Sunni	Interior Ministry		2008	1965	Al-Rashaydah
Fourth	Shuaib Al-Muaizri	Conservative	Sunni	Police		2009	1959	Al-Mutairi
Fifth	Alsaifi Al-Ajmi	Independent	Sunni			2009	1961	Al-Ajman
Fifth	Badi Al-Dusari	Independent	Sunni		PhD, Sports Administration	2009	1963	Al-Dosari
Fifth	Dlaihi Al-Hajiri	Independent	Sunni		High School diploma	2009	1958	Al-Hajiri
Fifth	Falah Al-Azmi	Independent	Sunni		High School diploma	2008	1961	Al-Awazem
Fifth	Ghanem Al-Mai	Independent	Sunni	Ministry of Education	Literature	2003	1958	Al-Awazem
Fifth	Khalid Al-Tahus	Independent	Sunni		Engineering	2009	1974	Al-Ajman
Fifth	Mohammed AlـHuwaila Al-Ajmi	Independent	Sunni	Professor	PhD in Management, Yarmouk University	2008	1971	Al-Ajman
Fifth	Saad Znaifir Al-Azmi	Independent	Sunni		Middle School	2009	1950	Al-Awazem
Fifth	Sadoon Al-Otaibi	Independent	Sunni			2008	1959	Al-Otaibi
Fifth	Salim Al-Azmi		Sunni		MA, Law	2009	1967	Al-Awazem

Sources: Kuwait Politics Database, 2008 Election Results

Political factions

While political parties are not legally recognized in Kuwait, a number of political factions exist. The assembly is composed of different unofficial political factions in addition to independents:

• The Islamic bloc: Consisting mainly of Salafi and Hadas members. The Islamic bloc is the most influential bloc in the assembly with around 21 members elected in the 2008 national elections (17 in the 2006 election), although its loose organization made it less effective. Their chief goal is the complete return of the Shari'a law. Bills supported by the Islamic bloc include the elimination of co-education at the university level (passed in 1998).

• The Shaabi (populist) bloc: A coalition of independents and other nationalist parties with a focus on lower- and middle-class issues. In 2006 national elections, they won around 10 seats of the parliament.

• The liberal bloc: With eight members elected in the 2006 elections. The liberal bloc supported the women's suffrage bill in 1999 and 2005.

In the 2006 general election, a coalition of 29 candidates who were members of parliament was formed (which was increased to 36 members after the election) aimed to support the 5 electoral districts bill.

 Summary of the 16 May 2009 National Assembly of Kuwait election results

	Seats
Independents	21
Sunni Islamist	13
Liberals (Shia and Sunni)	7
Shia Islamist	6
Popular Bloc	3
Total (turnout 50 %)	50
Source: Kuwait Politics Database

Significant events

• June 19, 1961- The Independence of Kuwait.

• February 27, 1962- The Preliminary Assembly convened.

• November 11, 1962- The Constitution of Kuwait was signed by the Emir, Sheikh Abdullah Al-Salem Al-Sabah after being passed unanimously in the Assembly.

• January 29, 1963- The First constitutionally elected Assembly convened.

• February 27, 1967- The second elected Assembly convened, allegedly by forged elections.

• August 29, 1976- The first, unconstitutional, dissolution of the Assembly by Sheikh Sabah Al-Salem Al-Sabah.

• July 3, 1981- The second, unconstitutional, dissolution of the Assembly by Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.

• May 4, 1999- Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah dissolved the National Assembly on the grounds of a political deadlock between the Government and the Assembly. This time he called for elections within the constitutional period of two months.

• November 23, 1999- The National Assembly rejects an amiri decree by Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah to grant women's suffrage in the next elections.

• May 16, 2005- The National Assembly passes women's suffrage law after several attempts since the amiri decree of 1999.

• January 24, 2006- The National Assembly of Kuwait voted [3] ruling emir Saad Al-Abdullah Al-Salim Al-Sabah out of office just moments before a letter of abdication was received from the emir. The Kuwait Cabinet nominated Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, prime minister, to take over as emir.

• January 29, 2006- Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah was sworn in as the 15th emir of Kuwait, which was unanimously approved by the National Assembly.

• May 21, 2006- Amidst week long disputes over reform to decrease the number of electoral districts, Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah dissolves the Assembly calling for new elections June 29 of 2006.

• March 17, 2008- Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad again dissolves the Assembly due to misuse of parliamentary powers by some members. He called for elections May 17, 2008.

• March 18, 2009 - Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad dissolves the Assembly calling for new elections in two months time. This happened immediately following some members' calls to "grill" (see Politics of Kuwait for a definition of grilling) the prime minister, after months of "grilling" and political deadlock. The government resigned on March the 17th.

• May 16, 2009 - The first women MPs were elected into the National Assembly. 4 women won in the 2009 election; Aseel al-Awadhi, Rola Dashti, Massouma al-Mubarak and Salwa al-Jassar

See also

• Kuwait national election, 2006
• Elections in Kuwait
• List of Speakers of Kuwait National Assembly
• Kuwait National Assembly No-Confidence Votes
• Kuwait Voters List http://clubco.dyndns.org/kpims

External links

• Kuwait National Assembly website
• Kuwait Politics Database