December 1938 Kuwaiti general election

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General elections were held in Kuwait on 24 December 1938. [1]

Contents

Background

Unofficial elections had taken place in June 1938, electing 14 members of a council that Sheikh Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah subsequently recognised as the Legislative Council in July. [2] However, tensions between the council and the sheikh and British political agent soon came to a head, with the sheikh unhappy about the council dismissing his chief secretary and the British unhappy with the council attempting to take control of revenue from oil. The sheikh dissolved the council on 21 December and called fresh elections. [2]

The council was expanded from 14 to 20 members, with the number of eligible voters was extended from 150 to 400. [2]

Results

Thirteen of the fourteen members elected in June were re-elected, with only Youssef Marzouq Al-Marzouq not returning to the new council.

CandidateVotes%Notes
Youssef bin Issa Al-Qenaei 333Re-elected
Hamad Dawood Al-Marzouq 333Re-elected
Khaled Abdul Latif Al-Hamad 270Re-elected
Mishaan Khudair Mishaan Khudair 265Re-elected
Mohammed Shaheen Al-Ghanem 258Re-elected
Sultan Ibrahim Al-Kulaib 254Re-elected
Abdullah Al-Hamad Al-Saqr 252Re-elected
Mishari Al-Hassan Al-Badr 250Re-elected
Abdul Latif Mohammed Thunayan Al-Ghanim 248Re-elected
Ali Al-Sayyid Suleiman Al-Rifai 246Re-elected
Ahmed Al-Khamis 237Elected
Youssef Saleh Al-Humaidhi 233Re-elected
Ali Al-Banwan 209Elected
Suleiman Khaled Al-Adsani 205Re-elected
Saleh Othman Al-Rashed 204Re-elected
Ali Abdul Wahab Al-Mutawa 202Elected
Mishari Hilal Al-Mutairi 198Elected
Mohammed Ahmed Al-Ghanem 185Elected
Nisaf Yusuf Al-Nisaf 172Elected
Youssef Abdul Wahab Al-Adsani 169Elected
Total
Source: Al Qabas

Aftermath

Before its first sitting the sheikh presented council members with a new constitution that turned the council from an executive body to an advisory one, and allowed him to veto council decisions. [2] However, the council refused to approve it. [1] As a result, the sheikh dissolved the council on 7 March 1939 with the intention of replacing it with a fully appointed one. [2]

On 9 March Muhammad bin Munais made a public speech attacking the sheikh and handed out anti-government leaflets. His arrest the following day led to an altercation when former council member Youssef Al-Marzouq attempted to intervene. During the incident, Muhammad Al-Qitami, a supporter of the council, fired at the police, while Al-Marzouq took out his handgun. The police returned fire, wounding both Al-Marzouq and Al-Qitami, with Al-Qitami later dying of his wounds. [2] Munais was subsequently executed for treason. [2] On 11 March five former members of the council were arrested, [2] with a new jail having to be built to house the unprecedented number of prisoners. [3]

On 12 March the sheikh appointed 14 members to a new advisory council, which functioned until July 1940 but then ceased meeting. [2]

References

  1. 1 2 Majid Khadduri & Edmund Ghareeb (2001). War in the Gulf, 1990-91: The Iraq-Kuwait Conflict and Its Implications. Oxford University Press. p. 39. ISBN   978-0-19-534877-4.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Kamal Osman Salih (1992). "The 1938 Kuwait Legislative Council" (PDF). Middle Eastern Studies. 28 (1): 66–100. JSTOR   4283478.
  3. ↑ Hamad N. Al-Sewaji (1999). "Democracy in Kuwait" (PDF).
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