KUWAIT: Kuwait parliament's opposition has critically highlighted that the current campaigning being carried out by candidates for the upcoming elections do not focus on issues that need to be addressed such as the reformation of the state administration, corruption within the government mechanism and other challenges that is of significance for the country's development, informed sources said.

Campaigning topics instead focus on other issues that are popular among the people such as the education sector, economy and the population structure of Kuwait. Sources said that the government had previously delayed the decision to - increase the service fees on residents, review health ministry fees and differentiate between services for residents and citizens.

Parliamentary sources also added that the government denied opposition candidates, the opportunity to speak about demands to reform the electoral process. A highlight of this decision, as outlined by sources, has been the approval of voting by the civil ID, which prevents opposition candidates from raising the issues of votes transfer or any other activities done to compromise the integrity of the elections.

Sources also added that the government's decision to abstain from participating in the election of the speaker, his deputy, secretary, supervisor and other members of committees, which is thought to be a reformist move to back a popular view is carried out against the wishes of the opposition as this topic is often a point of contention during campaigns. Sources did say that the government did respond to all demands from the opposition, taking action against by-elections and vote buying, which is why the opposition in turn changed its core campaigning topics to include those that were related to services, improvement of infrastructure and other issues related to the education sector and the economy.

Following a mutual agreement between the opposition and the government, sources added that previously debatable topics have been taken away from the opposition, such as the separation of public services for expatriates and citizens.