By Nawara Fattahova

KUWAIT: The Women’s Cultural and Social Society (WCSS) in cooperation with the Kuwait Transparency Society held a discussion panel titled ‘electoral system and fairness of constituencies’ on Wednesday to discuss opinions and suggestions for a better electoral system in Kuwait.

Dr Mohammed Al-Faili, constitutional expert and teacher of law at Kuwait University’s Faculty of Law, thinks that the constituencies should be set by law. “The legislator should decide the number of constituencies - between one and 50. The constituencies are subject to change by time, as population is growing. The number of voters changes significantly in some constituencies. In some cases, some people may change their address to be able to vote for certain candidates in a certain constituency. This practice is unfair, but it cannot be officially proved,” he noted.

Elections are the way to form the parliament, which is the tool for practicing the legislative and authority and monitoring the executive authority. “The parliament represents all people living in Kuwait,” Faili said. “The parliament cannot practice its legislative work without institutional work. In that case, it is practiced according to individual skills rather than teamwork.”

Real expression

Dr Mohammed Al-Mgatea, general law teacher at Kuwait University’s Faculty of Law, spoke about the real expression of the nation’s will through ballot boxes and his suggestion for the distribution of constituencies and the voting system. “Discussing the constituencies is part of the political reforms. The electoral system is the main gate for any reforms. Unfortunately, the personal interest of the MPs and the personal interest of certain groups decide how constituencies are divided, which has spoiled the electoral system,” he argued.

“We should change the traditional way of dividing the constituencies. What suites certain countries may not suit us. We should choose the non-geographical constituencies’ system. We should also limit the migration of voters from one constituency to another which is a serious problem. Furthermore, the by-elections, which are illegal, are still practiced, unfortunately. Selling votes is also popular. The reforms of the electoral system will actively eliminate all these negative aspects,” stressed Mgatea.

He proposed a new electoral system based on the date of birth. “In this system, the voters will be chosen randomly by draw in five constituencies every six days for a period of 30 days. The constituencies will be balanced number wise, and also in terms of social variety including all groups, sects, and tribes of the Kuwaiti community. The difference in number of voters won’t be more than 3.5 percent between all constituencies. At least nine countries around the world are applying this system,” he concluded.

Mixed system

Salah Al-Ghazali, Head of the Kuwait Transparency Society, said that the mixed electoral system is the best option in Kuwait as it has more positives than negatives. “Our present electoral system is unique and only half percent of countries around the world are applying it. The proportional electoral system is not successful. We should not leave this issue for a few MPs to decide, but rather we should seek the support of non-governmental organizations,” he stated.

Abdullah Al-Ahmad, representing the Kuwait Democratic Forum, suggested having six constituencies according to the six governorates of Kuwait. “We aim to include all categories and minorities of the community in these constituencies, so all people will be represented in the parliament. This will be based on electoral roles,” he pointed out.