Meanwhile, the Kuwaiti government Thursday launched a media campaign to convince voters to cast their ballot in the Dec 1 poll in a bid to counter opposition calls for a boycott over a disputed law.
The minister stressed that expression of opinion regarding elections and its mechanisms is organized in the elections law of 1962 which cites in Article 45 that “whoever violates the freedom of election and its system by using force, threats, or through participation in gatherings or demonstrations is punished.”
He further noted that Article 44 also stipulates the punishment of “all who use force or threats to prevent a voter from his right,
influence him to vote a certain way or to abstain from voting”.
Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah Al-Sabah was speaking at the inauguration of the elections media center at the quarters of the Ministry of Information. The center aims to provide an integrated media environment local and foreign media for the coverage of Kuwait’s 15th National Assembly elections on Dec 1.
The minister was responding to questions on the ‘Nation’s Dignity’ march planned by opposition forces on Nov 30. The organizer had issued a statement on Twitter on Tuesday “to notify the Interior Ministry of its planned march”, warning it of trying to suppress or prevent the announced event.
Furthermore, opposition former MP Waleed Al-Tabtabaei formally requested the ministry for a license, a request that was reportedly rejected due to its inopportune timing just before elections. Opposition entities are stepping up their boycotting campaign through seminars in all constituencies, to urge citizens to boycott the upcoming election.
“Those who wish to exercise their right to boycott may do so, but the law is clear on the limits of exercising this right and the government will be vigilant on all violations of the law,” added the Information Minister.
He predicted that this election will be conducted with a higher level of integrity than its predecessor this year under the supervision of the Kuwait Transparency Society and international observers. The ministry has launched a media campaign that encourages citizens to exercise their right to vote, he added.
“The goal of the Ministry of Information is not to direct votes towards a particular entity or obscure them from another. Its goal is to create awareness on the importance of casting the ballot and this is not significantly different from what was done in previous elections,” Sheikh Mohammed explained.
The center, he added, provides media with a ‘central bank of images’ on all aspects of elections. The heading commission of the ministry is comprised of 750 media persons who will be distributed to all polling stations and election committees.
Furthermore, the ministry will provide transportation for all journalists, as the center is hosting more that 70 international media organizations such as the BBC.
Candidates’ media campaigns will begin from Nov 25 on the newly established radio station and satellite television entitled “Al-Kuwait Amana” (Trusteeship), where three minutes of campaigning will be given to each candidate.
The Administrative Circuit Bench of the Court of Cassation Thursday postponed to Nov 26 to look into the appeals of 10 candidates who are disputing the decision of the National Election Commission to disqualify them from contesting the upcoming parliamentary elections saying they do not meet several conditions and citing bad reputation.
Over three days the court will also look into 31 of the 37 appeals of candidates who have been disqualified by the commission.
On Wednesday the court looked into eight more appeals which also have been postponed to Nov 26. Next Sunday the court is expected to look into 13 appeals.
Meanwhile, the Criminal Court Thursday released three twitters – Hamid Al-Khalidi and Saqer Al-Hashash on bail of KD 5,000 each and Nasser Al-Daihani on KD 1,000 bail of. They were charged with insulting HH the Amir on their Twitter account.
The court then set Dec 13 to look into the case of Al-Daihani and Dec 27, 2012 to look into the case of Al-Khalidi and Al-Hashash.
A few days ago, the Public Prosecution had ordered the arrest of six citizens on charges of insulting the Amir on their social networking website Twitter.
Two were soon released on KD 1,000 each, but decided to detain four for 10 days at the Central Prison pending investigation. The other accused – Rashid Al-Enzi -remains in the custody because the court has yet to set a date to look into his case.
A source disclosed the so-called opposition majority bloc has paid KD 4,400 as contribution to the cost of the bails imposed on the accused tweeters.
On another issue, former MP and Third Constituency candidate, Ahmed Al-Mulaifi has alleged the Muslim Brotherhood organization – through a mediator Khairat Al-Shatir – has requested the government of Kuwait to pay KD 1.5 billion for the stability of the country “but Kuwait did not succumb to their demand.”
He added the only concern of the Brotherhood organization is to undermine Kuwait’s security and stability and implement its agenda in the country.
He added he is optimistic that Kuwait will witness real development with a new active government and urged Kuwaitis to participate in what he called a historic turning point for Kuwait.
First Constituency candidate, Dr Abdul-Wahid Al-Khalfan has called on the government to look at the reality the country is facing and the weak points in its institutions before preparing its programs “that is supposed to complete with the beginning of next session of the Parliament.”
In a press statement, Al-Khalfan stressed the government program should be consistent with reality which we are facing and should be practical to the needs of the country.
He also stressed on the need to allocate part of the next government program on a clear vision to support youth category by benefiting from their capabilities and giving them good direction to serve the country.
Meanwhile, the General Department for Elections Affairs at the Ministry of Interior announced Thursday that 13 more candidates had withdrawn their nomination papers bringing the total number of withdrawals to 60, one day before the date for withdrawals close on Friday, Nov 23, 2012. A total of 387 candidates had filed their nomination papers to contest the elections.
With the exclusion of 37 candidates who have been disqualified by the National Elections Commission on grounds of bad reputation and/or not meeting the conditions, 290 candidates including 14 women will fight it for the 50 Parliament seats.
Those who withdrew their nomination papers from the First Constituency include Abdul-Hameed Abdul-Razak Dashti and Matar Mutlaq Al-Otaibi; from the Second Constituency Khalid Fahad Al-Hahay and Sami Salem Al-Rashi; from the Third Constituency Abdul-Rahman Ali Shamsudeen and Abdul-Aziz Atiyya Al-Hamdan; from the Fourth Constituency Hamdan Khalid Al-Namshan, Talal Mohammed Al-Mutairi, Fahad Saud Al-Mutalqam, Fahad Sulaiman Al-Habashi and Mohammed Hamoud Eid Al-Arada and from the Fifth Constituency Saleh Ali Al-Ajmi and Abass Qamar Al-Shimmari.
Agencies add:
The Kuwaiti government Thursday launched a media campaign to convince voters to cast their ballot in the Dec 1 poll in a bid to counter opposition calls for a boycott over a disputed law.
The campaign comes as the opposition, comprising Islamists, nationalists and liberals, steps up a campaign of its own to convince voters to shun the election in protest at an amendment of the electoral law.
The Amir HH Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah on Wednesday urged the public to be “positive” and cast their votes to elect the best candidates.
“Why remain negative and instigate people to boycott the election?” asked the ruler in a speech to a number of academics.
“Be positive and take part in the election process,” to elect competent representatives, said the Amir who called for “chaos and violence” to be avoided.
State-run television and radio stations started Thursday broadcasting advertisements urging Kuwaitis to cast their votes, explaining the negative consequences of the boycott on the future of the country.
The Amir says the amendment is within his constitutional rights and necessary to safeguard national unity and security of the country.
The opposition however claims it breaches the constitution and allows the government to influence the outcome of the results and elect a rubber stamp parliament.
Under the previous law, Kuwaitis were able to vote for four of 10 MPs elected in each of the five constituencies, but that has now been reduced to only one.
Opponents of the change claim that the reduction will encourage vote-buying and other corrupt practices since the number of votes needed to win a seat will be much lower than in previous polls.
They have been holding daily gatherings to explain the reasons for their boycott call and has mobilised the so-called Popular Committee for Boycotting Election.
“We visit homes and urge people to boycott and ask them to convince others … We have had excellent response so far,” Abdullah Al-Shallahi, a coordinator for the opposition committee’s branch in the fourth constituency, told AFP.
“We are expecting between 60 percent to 70 percent of voters to boycott and are working to increase the percentage,” said Shallahi.
The reason for boycotting “the election is to challenge the regime’s plan to monopolise the decision-making process,” Faisal Al-Yahya, a member of the scrapped 2012 parliament, told a gathering Wednesday night.
Boycotting the election is “necessary in order not to provide legitimacy for the next parliament,” he said.
The opposition plans to stage a large demonstration on the eve of the election and has sought permission from the authorities.
Candidates however have criticised the opposition campaign.
“What they are doing is a criminal act punishable under the law,” Nabeel Al-Fadhl told his supporters Wednesday night.
Campaigning has remained low key, with only small crowds, less than 100 in some cases, showing up at the election tents set up by some of the 300 hopefuls fighting for seats in the 50-member parliament.
The election is the second this year and the fifth since mid-2006 as the country is rocked by ongoing political crises between parliament and the government led by the ruling Al-Sabah family.
