| 17th Legislative Session الفصل التشريعي السابع عشر | |||||
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| Overview | |||||
| Term | 20 June 2023 – | ||||
| Speaker | Ahmed Al-Sadoun | ||||
| Deputy Speaker | Mohammed Al-Mutair | ||||
| Secretary | Mubarak Al-Tasha | ||||
| Controller | Mohammed Al-Huwaila | ||||
| Sessions | |||||
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The 2023 Kuwaiti National Assembly (commonly known as Majlis 2023) is the 17th legislative session of the National Assembly. Members were elected on 6 June 2023. The session started on 20 June 2023.
After the 2022 election results were annulled on 19 March, [1] elections were held on 6 June 2023. 38 MPs kept their seats from the annulled 2022 parliament. The Opposition kept its majority in parliament, while only one woman was elected. [2] The turnout was 59.27% of the 470,369 voters that cast their votes. Hadas and Salafis both won three seats, and the Shiite Taalof group won two seats. The 42 remaining seats were won by unaffiliated MPs. [3] The rate of change in elected members was 24%, compared to the 2022 elections. On July 26, the constitutional court rejected all appeals regarding the electoral process and results confirming the legitimacy of the session and results. [4]
The Speaker as well as his deputy, secretary, and controller were elected via direct vote from the MPs on the first session on 20 June 2023. Minister Essa Al-Kandari announced that the government will not vote on these elections.
Former Speaker Ahmed Al-Sadoun announced his intention to run for speaker elections on 7 June 2023. [5] During the opening session, Ahmed Al-Sadoun and Dawood Marafie ran for the speaker position. Marafie withdrew against Al-Sadoun, later going unopposed. [6]
Mohammed Al-Mutair, deputy speaker of the annulled 2022 parliament, and Marzouq Al-Hubaini announced their intention to run for the deputy speaker position.
| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mohammed Al-Mutair | Independent | 32 | 69.57 | |
| Marzouq Al-Hubaini | Independent | 14 | 30.43 | |
| Total | 46 | 100.00 | ||
| Valid votes | 46 | 93.88 | ||
| Invalid/blank votes | 3 | 6.12 | ||
| Total votes | 49 | 100.00 | ||
| Registered voters/turnout | 65 | 75.38 | ||
Al-Mutair got 32 votes, while Al-Hubaini got 14. The sixteen government ministers did not vote. [7]
Mubarak Al-Tasha won the secretary position unopposed. Mohammed Al-Huwaila won the controller position, but Hani Shams and Falah Dhahi withdrew.
Three permanent committees held elections which are the Education & Culture Committee, Health, Societal, & Labor Committee, and the Budgets Committee.
In the Education & Culture Committee election, Hamad Al-Matar got elected with 22 votes, Jenan Boushehri got 17 votes, Abdulhadi Al-Ahli got with 12 votes, Hamad Al-Olayan got 10 and Mohammed Al-Huwaila got 9 votes. Fahad bin Jamea withdrew.
In the Health, Societal & Labor Committee election, Bader Al-Enezi got elected with 22 votes, Hani Shams with 12 votes, Majed Masaed and Saad Al-Khanfour got 11 votes, Fahad bin Jamea got 9 votes. Fares Al-Otaibi withdrew.
In the Budgets Committee election, Abdulwahab Al-Essa got elected with 22 votes, Adel Al-Damkhi got 19 votes, Saud Al-Asfoor and Osama Al-Zaid got 17 votes, Hamad Al-Matar got 16 votes, and Fahad Al-Masoud got 14 votes. Bader Al-Mulla withdrew after getting 14 votes in the election. [8]
On June 20, 8 of 11 permanent committees got their seats unopposed.
Members: Mohammed Hayef, Khaled Al-Otaibi, Khaled Al-Tammar, Abdulhadi Al-Ajmi.
Members: Majed Masaed, Khaled Al-Tammar, Mohammed Al-Mahhan, Bader Al-Shammari.
Members: Bader Al-Mulla, Abdullah Fahaad, Abdulwahab Al-Essa, Abdullah Al-Anbaie, Dawood Marafie, Bader Al-Enezi.
Members: Osama Al-Shaheen, Jarrah Al-Fouzan, Mubarak Al-Tasha, Jenan Boushehri, Abdulkarim Al-Kanderi, Abdulaziz Al-Saqabi.
Members: Abdulhadi Al-Ajmi, Mohammed Al-Huwaila, Hamad Al-Olayan, Jenan Boushehri.
Members: Majed Masaed, Hani Shams, Fahad bin Jamea, Bader Al-Enezi.
Members: Marzouq Al-Hubaini, Shuaib Shabaan, Abdulkarim Al-Kanderi, Abdulaziz Al-Saqabi.
Members: Mubarak Al-Hajraf, Dawood Marafie, Mohammed Al-Mahhan, Mohammed Al-Huwaila, Ahmed Lari, Fahad Al-Masoud, Fares Al-Otaibi.
Members: Hamad Al-Matar, Saud Al-Asfoor, Fahad Al-Masoud, Abdulwahab Al-Essa.
Members: Hamad Al-Olayan, Jarrah Al-Fouzan, Mutib Al-Thaydi, Osama Al-Shaheen.
Members: Muhammad Al-Sayer, Hamad Al-Obaid. [12]
The first session ran from 20 June until 2 August 2023. On July 13, the government and parliament unanimously voted in favor of the new “Residential Cities” law. This law allowed private companies to develop new residential areas in Kuwait in order to solve the housing crisis. [13] On July 14, parliament added housewives to the governmental Afiya medical insurance. [14]
On August 1, parliament passed the “High Electoral Commission” law. The commission will organize future general elections. It also permitted members, including Musallam Al-Barrak and Bader Al-Dahoum, that were sentenced to jail in Amir-offending cases run in future elections. It also banned all political advertisements and rallies 24 hours before Election Day. It also stated that residents would vote in the constituency their Civil ID address is in. Finally, the commission must release the whole election result within ten days. [15]
Nasser Al-Mohammed Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah is a Kuwaiti politician who served as Prime Minister of Kuwait from 7 February 2006 until resigning on 28 November 2011.
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The 2006 Asian Games opening ceremony was held on 1 December at the multi-purpose Khalifa International Stadium. The Opening Ceremony was described by the media to be one of the most breath-taking and technologically spectacular multi-sports event ceremony, and the most expensive multi-sports event ceremony in the history of Asian Games at that time. It was created and produced by David Atkins who conducted the 2000 Summer Olympics opener and was filmed and broadcast live by International Games Broadcast Services' (IGBS) precursor Doha Asian Games Broadcast Services (DAGBS). 10 composers from Qatar, Lebanon, Egypt, Singapore, Japan, India, South Korea, Germany and Australia made the musical scores of the ceremonies.
Ahmed Abdulaziz al-Sadoun is the Speaker of the Kuwaiti National Assembly from June 20, 2023. He was previously the speaker from 1985 to 1999, from February 2012 until it was declared that the February 2012 elections were invalid and from October 2022 until it was declared in March 2023 that the September 2022 elections were invalid. He is the leader of the Popular Action Bloc in the Assembly and served for eight terms.
Marzouq Ali Mohammed Al-Ghanim is a former speaker of the Kuwaiti National Assembly, representing the second district. Al-Ghanim earned a BSc in mechanical engineering from Seattle University and worked for Boubyan Petrochemical Company before being elected to the National Assembly in 2006. He is the son of Ali al-Ghanim and Faiza al-Kharafi. He was elected Speaker in 2013.
Hasan Johar is a member of the Kuwaiti National Assembly, representing the first district. He is a Kuwaiti of Iranian descent.
Khaled Sultan bin Essa was a member of the Kuwaiti National Assembly, representing the second district. Bin Essa earned an MA in business administration and was Chairman of the Kuwait Graduates Society before being elected to the National Assembly in 2008.
Faisal Al-Meslim Al-Osaimi Al-Otaibi is a former Kuwaiti politician, representing the third district. Born in 1962, Al-Meslim studied Political History at the University of Wales and worked as a professor before being elected to the National Assembly in 2003. Al-Otaibi is considered an Independent deputy and affiliates with the Islamist members.
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Hamad Mohammed Jassim Al-Matar is a member of the Kuwaiti National Assembly, and holds a doctorate in industrial chemistry.
General elections were held in Kuwait on 29 September 2022 following the dissolution of parliament by Crown Prince Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah. However, the results were annulled by the Constitutional Court on 19 March 2023 after judges ruled that the previous parliament had not been dissolved properly.
Snap general elections were held in Kuwait on 6 June 2023 to elect 50 of the 65 members of the National Assembly. The elections took place following the annulment of the results of the 2022 snap elections by the Constitutional Court on 19 March 2023 and the redissolution of the 16th session on 2 May.
Shuaib Shabab Al-Muwaizri Al-Rashidi is a Kuwaiti politician who has served in the National Assembly since 2016. He served a previous term from 2009 until 2012. Al-Muwaziri is the former Minister of Housing and National Assembly Affairs.
Essa Ahmad Al-Kandari is a Kuwaiti politician who has served in the National Assembly since 2023. He is also the current Deputy Prime Minister & Minister of National Assembly & Cabinet Affairs serving since 2013. Al-Kandari is the former deputy speaker of the 2016 National Assembly. He was the former Minister of Communications, Municipality, Housing, Social Affairs & Awqaf.
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