Photo shows Kuwaiti National Assembly

KUWAIT: The ministry of interior yesterday said 287 candidates were left in the race for the Nov 26 parliamentary election after 128 candidates withdrew and 40 others were barred at the closure of withdrawals yesterday. The number however could increase slightly as some of the candidates barred by the election committee are still fighting in court and they may be reinstated.

The hopefuls left in the fray include as many as 41 members of the previous National Assembly, which was dissolved by HH the Amir last month, paving the road for early polls. They also include 38 former MPs from previous assemblies and a total of 14 women. There are roughly 30 opposition figures in the race - 25 of former lawmakers - while the rest are new faces.

In the first constituency, 52 candidates are running for the 10 seats. They include 10 members of the dissolved Assembly and nine former MPs. Prominent among the candidates are former MPs Saleh Ashour, Abdullah Al-Turaiji, Essa Al-Kandari, Adnan Abdulsamad and Mubarak Al-Harees. Ahmad Al-Mulaifi leads a host of former lawmakers who are bidding a comeback. They include former opposition MPs Adel Al-Damkhi and Osama Al-Shaheen and leading Shiite cleric Hussein Al-Qallaf, who will fighting against his brother Fakher Al-Qallaf.

In the second district, 44 candidates are left in the field with seven members of the previous house and eight former MPs. Prominent among candidates are speaker of the dissolved house Marzouq Al-Ghanem, Ahmad Lari, Rakan Al-Nasef and Khalaf Dumaitheer. Former MPs include Salafists Ahmad Baqer and Fahd Al-Khannah, Islamists from the Islamic Constitutional Movement Jamaan Al-Harbash and Hamad Al-Matar, in addition to Riyadh Al-Adasani.

Fifty-four hopefuls are competing for the 10 seats in the third constituency. They include nine members of the dissolved Assembly and seven former MPs, five of them from the opposition. Jamal Al-Omar, Yaqoub Al-Sane, Roudhan Al-Roudhan and Khalil Abul are among the outgoing Assembly members, while Waleed Al-Tabtabaei, Ammar Al-Ajmi, Shaye Al-Shaye and Safa Al-Hashem are former lawmakers.

In the fourth constituency, 68 candidates are left with eight members of the previous Assembly and eight former MPs - all of them from the opposition. The former include Askar Al-Enezi, Mubarak Al-Khrainej and Mohammad Tana, while the latter include opposition figures Osama Al-Munawer, Shuaib Al-Muwaizri and Mohammad Hayef.

The fifth district has the largest number of hopefuls with 69, including seven members of the previous Assembly and six former MPs. Prominent candidates are Hamdan Al-Azemi, Mohammad Al-Huwailah, Bader Al-Dahoum and Nayef Al-Merdas.

By B Izzak, Staff Writer