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Early general elections were held in Kuwait on 1 December 2012 after early elections in February 2012 were declared invalid. [1]
Kuwait, officially the State of Kuwait, is a country in Western Asia. Situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, it shares borders with Iraq and Saudi Arabia. As of 2016, Kuwait has a population of 4.5 million people: 1.3 million are Kuwaitis and 3.2 million are expatriates. Expatriates account for 70% of the population.
In the elections, Shi'as won 17 out of 50 seats in the National Assembly, [2] an increase from the seven won in the February elections. [3] Sunni Islamists were reduced to a minority. [2] Three women also entered the Parliament compared to men-only from the February election, but their number decreased compared to the 2009 election. [3]
Turnout was officially reported to be 43%, the lowest in the Kuwaiti electoral history.
Six weeks before the elections, the electoral system was changed, with voters restricted to voting for only one candidate, having previously been allowed to vote for four. [4] The changes resulted in mass protests and an opposition boycott of the elections. [4] Shafeeq Ghabra, professor at the Faculty of Political Sciences at Kuwait University said that, "it's clear that the boycott was very successful." [5] The opposition rejected an unilateral amendment of the electoral law that reduced the number of votes per person from four to one. [6]
Kuwait University is a public university in Kuwait.
On 5 December, despite calls for political reforms, Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah was reappointed Prime Minister. [7]
Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah is a Kuwaiti politician and the Prime Minister of Kuwait since 2011. Previously he served as Minister of Defense as well as Deputy Prime Minister.
In June 2013, the Constitutional Court ordered the dissolution of the National Assembly and the holding of fresh elections. [4]
Elections in Venezuela are held at a national level for the President of Venezuela as head of state and head of government, and for a unicameral legislature. The President of Venezuela is elected for a six-year term by direct election plurality voting, and is eligible for re-election. The National Assembly (Asamblea Nacional) has 165 members (diputados), elected for five-year terms using a mixed member majoritarian system. Elections also take place at state level and local level.
Elections in Kuwait are held for both the National Assembly and for the Municipality. Kuwait's constitution calls for elections to the unicameral National Assembly at a maximum interval of four years. Elections are held earlier if the Constitutional Court or Emir dissolve the parliament.
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The Kuwaiti protests refers to the series of 2011–12 demonstrations for government reforms in the state of Kuwait. In November 2011, the government of Kuwait resigned in response to the protests, making Kuwait one of several countries affected by the Arab Spring to experience major governmental changes due to unrest. The protests began with stateless people (Bedoon).
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Early general elections were held in Kuwait on 2 February 2012, the country's second general election in a three-year period. The election's turnout rate was 59%. However, in June 2012 Kuwait's Constitutional Court declared the elections invalid and reinstated the former parliament. The court said the dissolution of Parliament in December 2011 by Emir Sabah Al-Sabah was unconstitutional. In response, opposition MPs resigned from parliament and demanded a full parliamentary system.
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A constitutional referendum was held in Egypt in two rounds on 15 and 22 December 2012. Egyptians living abroad were scheduled to vote between 8 and 11 December. Voting for expatriates had been delayed until 12 December 2012 and was extended until 17 December 2012. Voters were asked whether they approve of the draft constitution that was approved by the Constituent Assembly on 30 November 2012.
Early general elections were held in Kuwait on 27 July 2013. The elections were required after the Constitutional Court dissolved Parliament and annulled the results of the December 2012 elections. Voter turnout was an estimated 52.5%, which was higher than expected despite an opposition boycott, and only 7% lower than the non-boycotted February 2012 elections.
Aseel al-Awadhi is a former member of the National Assembly of Kuwait. She was a professor of philosophy at Kuwait University before moving into politics. Al-Awadhi first stood for a seat on the National Assembly in 2008, losing the election but gaining the highest number of votes for a female candidate since women were allowed to stand. She was elected representative of Kuwait's Third District in 2009; a post that she held until 2012.
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Early general elections were held in Kuwait on 26 November 2016. They follow the dissolution of the parliament elected in 2013 by Emir Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah in October 2016. Under the constitution, elections must be held within two months. Opposition candidates won 24 of the 50 seats in the National Assembly. Voter turnout was around 70 percent.