Kuwaitis cast their votes during by-elections held in the third constituency yesterday at ballot centers in areas including Adailiya, Khaldiya, Yarmouk and Khaitan.— Photos by Yasser Al-Zayyat and Fouad Al-Shaikh

KUWAIT: Polling stations in the third constituency opened doors yesterday at 8:00 am for voting in by-elections for a seat that fell vacant with the death of MP Nabeel Al-Fadhl last December. Twenty polling stations were set up in public schools in the electoral district. Few voters showed up in the morning at Mohammed Abdullah Al-Wahibi intermediate school in Jabriya, reserved for female voters. "We saw 16 voters out of 798, and expect to see more by the end of the day," said Deputy Attorney Shabeeb Al-Taflan of the main election committee.

T-shirts, pamphlets, water and juice were distributed by the candidates' supporters outside the school. Um Abdullah and Um Mohammad and their families were supporting Ahmed Nabeel Al-Fadhl to take up his father's seat at the National Assembly. "Like father, like son. We have hopes for Ahmed to make the right decisions like his father," Um Abdullah told Kuwait Times. Kazmia Al-Mo'men voted for Hisham Al-Baghli. "Baghli is an active young man who was elected several times and lost because he was short of two or three votes. He is also a board member of the municipal council," she said.

Interior Ministry Undersecretary Lt Gen Suleiman Al-Fahd toured the polling station to check on the progress of the electoral process and praised the efforts.

Larger turnout

The Khalil bin Ahmed intermediate school in Kaifan saw a larger turnout of male voters. "People will show up in the evening. Until now we only saw 25 voters out of 3,932. But because it is a by-election, turnout will be a maximum of 30 percent," said Khaled Abdulaziz Al-Khalid of the main election committee.

Mefreh Al-Shammari voted for Osama Al-Tahous, whose election to the Assembly was nullified by the court. He told Kuwait Times that Tahous would be a great MP as he knows what is best for Kuwait. "My expectations is that turnout will be 25 percent. Abdullah Al-Kandari, Ali Al-Khamis, Osama Al-Tahous and Ahmed Nabeel Al-Fadhl seem to be the leading contenders," he said.

Thirty-four candidates including two women are contesting the sole seat in the third constituency, which has over 81,000 voters. Eligible voters must elect one candidate to fill the Assembly's vacant seat. Among the candidates are a number of those who contested the election earlier or were members of the dissolved Assembly.

Moderate numbers

The by-elections started with very moderate numbers of voters showing up to ballot centers, as only less than ten percent showed up by midday. However, organizers said that the numbers were expected to rise to 20-25 percent by the time of ballots closed at 8:00 pm. It was noted that most senior citizens came in the early morning hours as policemen were seen assisting those who arrived on wheelchairs.

Chancellor Khaled Al-Khaled, Head of committee number one in Al-Khalil Ahmed School in Kaifan, said that very few voters showed up and that only 80 out of the total number of 773 voters had casted their votes by noon.

Meanwhile, Chancellor Hani Al-Mai, head of committee number 2, said that 93 out of 1,059 voters showed up by noon, while it was reported that 102 out of 1,045 showed up by noon in committee number three.

By Faten Omar and Meshaal Al-Enezi