By B Izzak

KUWAIT: A majority of the 376 candidates who registered to contest the Sept 29 snap polls kickstarted their election campaigns on Thursday, with many calling for speedy and fundamental reforms as Kuwait stands at a crossroads. Islamist candidate in the third constituency Jarrah Al-Fouzan said realistic reforms can lead to political stability that has been absent from the country for more than two decades. "Reforms require the prime minister to present a realistic program of action and a clear vision to build Kuwait. All authorities should cooperate to achieve them, and this is the way to reach political stability," Fouzan said.

Former MPs Abdulrahman Al-Anjari and Faisal Al-Yahya said the decades-old dilemma facing Kuwait lies in its unique system of democracy. "Our problem in Kuwait is that there is no parliamentary majority capable (allowed) to perform," Anjari said on television, in a reference that under Kuwait's democratic system, the parliamentary majority does not form the government. The government is headed by a senior member of the ruling family regardless of the outcome of the polls.

Yahya told Al-Rai TV that "Kuwait is the only country where people contest the polls to be part of the opposition and not to form a government". "There is no democracy without a peaceful rotation of power," he said. He also charged that when the government has no programs, no vision and no competence, "it will tend to corrupt lawmakers to back it".

The National Assembly was dissolved last month, less than 20 months after its election in Dec 2020 over nonstop bitter disputes between the government and opposition MPs. Former prime minister HH Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Sabah was changed and ex-Assembly speaker Marzouq Al-Ghanem said he will not bid for re-election.

New candidate Abdulaziz Al-Awadhi, running in the fourth constituency, said Kuwait is at a crossroads, and urged voters to elect the best to help create a new Kuwait. Candidate from the fifth constituency Abdulwahed Khalfan called for turning Kuwait into a single electoral constituency to achieve equality among voters.

Meanwhile, a special committee at the interior ministry has started scrutinizing the nomination papers of candidates to make sure that all qualify to run in the polls. The committee has the right to reject candidates who fail to fulfill conditions for candidacy. Candidates rejected by the committee can challenge the decision before courts, which have the final say on the matter.