Muna Al Fuzai

The National Assembly has been dissolved several times since Kuwait's independence, either by an Amiri decree or a judicial decision of the constitutional court. The recurrence of this event has had negative repercussions on Kuwaiti voters, and has become a cause for concern for the world. Everyone is asking why Kuwait's parliament is abruptly dissolved time and again even as parliamentary and government statements repeatedly confirm that things are fine.

In 2013, I was a consultant for foreign affairs at the Assembly, when the constitutional court issued a decision to dissolve the parliament. The court's decision was due to the unconstitutionality of the decree of establishing the Higher National Election Commission. The dissolution of the parliament last week was not by a decision of the constitutional court, but at the request of the Cabinet.

The official statements over the real reasons for the dissolution are not clear to the public, so rumors are swirling, especially since things looked good between the parliament and the Cabinet. We have to admit that the citizen may often not know what is going on behind the scenes, so it is natural that expectations vary for different people and the truth may never come to the surface.

With the opening of the door for fresh elections, rumors are rampant as usual in the Kuwaiti society. Voters are expected to either reelect the same old and well-known names or those who classified themselves as the opposition in the past against the one-vote system and now want to participate in the elections this time round. Some women are running too.

In this election, former MPs may have trouble winning over new voters because they are known to everyone either by their agenda or what they can offer. There have been calls on social media to make way for new, young blood to reach the parliament, and that old MPs should offer support and assistance. This is a good call, but I doubt it will occur. Just look at government positions that usually have a large contingent of senior government employees who do not agree to move from their positions unless they have a heart attack or die. They cannot even imagine the thought to leave to allow young people to move up to new positions. So, I do not blame the tweeters who are cynical on this matter.

The new women's names that have appeared in this election were met with irony, and I do not know why. To me, it is clear that society does not support these women, and instead focuses on their appearance and style, and searches for any tiny mistake or makes a joke over their decision. This is ignorance and an insult to women. Unfortunately, there is no one to back them, since there are no strong women's associations to support women in politics.

I follow the US election campaign every day and I believe that we have a global concern that women don't support women. It is a shame, but true. I wonder why the UN doesn't consider it a matter of interest as part of its agenda. This is about human development and human rights. It is still early to talk about the candidates as long as the door to run is still open, and it's hard to speculate about possible changes. This is an interesting matter to watch and learn from.