1. Politics of Kuwait
BENEDICT GOMBOCZ

2. Background
 The government of Kuwait, officially the State of Kuwait, is a constitutional monarchy.

3. Political Map of Kuwait

4. Important government figures
Important government figures
 Government Unitary parliamentary
hereditary (minor succession within
the House of Babah), constitutional
monarchy, de jure non-partisan
democracy
 Emir Sabah al-Sabah
 Crown Prince Nawaf al-Sabah
 Prime Minister Jaber Al-Hamad al-Sabah
 Speaker of the National Assembly Marzouq Al-Ghanim
 Legislature National Assembly
National Assembly of Kuwait

5. Constitution
 The Constitution of Kuwait, ratified in 1962, has components of a presidential and a parliamentary type of government.
 The Emir serves as the head of State and exercises the authority to nominate the PM.
 Both the Emir and the judicially independent Constitutional Court have the power to dissolve the parliament.
 Kuwait’s parliament (per article 3 of the Constitution) has the constitutional right to approve and disapprove of a nomination made by
the Emir; as such, the parliament exercises the authority to legally remove an Emir from his position.
 In 2006, for instance, the parliament successfully removed the Emir from his position because of his illness.
 While the Constitution clearly supports political organizations, they are still forbidden because there no law has been passed to outline
and legalize them.
 MPs often serve as Independents or as members of some loose affiliation or group on the basis of beliefs, sect, class, or clan.
 Citizens age twenty-one and older, if they are not currently serving in the military nor have been legally found guilty of a crime, are
eligible to vote.
 Parliamentary candidates must also be eligible to vote; they have to be at least thirty years old.

6. Elections
 The Parliament is made up of fifty members who are elected in districts that use the first past the post-voting process.
 The major groups (de facto parties) are the following:
 National Democratic Alliance: Secular, neo-liberal group. Has its own TV channel, Nabeeha Tahalof, and publishes the newspaper Al-Jarida.
 Democratic Foundation of Kuwait: leftist political group that is made up of social democrats, pan Arabs, and liberals. Run a weekly newspaper called Al-Talea. Its
candidates are generally supported by the Youth Association of Kuwait, its de facto youth branch.
 Popular Action Bloc: Secular nationalists, populists, and progressives. Often give attention to populist issues, such as funding for housing.
 Hadas: Sunni Islamists. Frequently referred to as the Islamic Constitutional Movement; has ties to the Muslim Brotherhood of Egypt.
 National Islamic Alliance: Moderate Shia Islamists who give attention to Arabist issues.
 Justice and Peace Alliance: Shia liberals and moderates.
 Independents: Non-affiliated; are often liberals and sympathetic to the ruling family.

7. National Issues
 Within two quarrelsome issues that led to six different elections between 1991 and 2008 are issues that relate to the electoral procedure
and the ruling family’s participation in the government.
 Other notable points of debate are the denial of female participation in the electoral process before 2005, the minimum voting age of
twenty-one, and the fact that the existence of parties are still prohibited.

8. 2013 elections
 The most recent elections took place on July 27, 2013.
 Voter turnout was an estimated 52.5%; despite an opposition boycott, this was a higher turnout than what was expected.
 Ironically, voter turnout was only 7% lower than the turnout of the non-boycotted February 2012 elections (59%).
 Liberals were the biggest winners of the July 2013 election.
 Liberal policymakers, according to the Associated Press, won no more than six seats.
 The Congressional Research Service stated that liberals gained nine seats, which made them the biggest political faction in the
parliament after Independents who support the government.
 Fox News stated that the tribal group gained no more than ten seats in the fifty-member parliament.
 At least two women were elected.
 The Shia faction diminished to eight seats after they gained seventeen seats in December 2012.
 Sunni Islamists gained three seats.

9. Sabah al-Sabah
Sabah al-Sabah
 Born 16 June 1929 in Kuwait City, Streikhdom of Kuwait.
 5th and current Emir of Kuwait and the Commander of the Military of Kuwait.
 Assumed office on 29 January 2006, having been confirmed by the National Assembly of
Kuwait.
 Fourth son of the 10th ruler of Kuwait, Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.
 Is, as of 2014, also head of the Sabah monarchy.
 Received his primary education at Al Mubarakya School in the 1930s, and then finished
his education under tutors.
 Half-brother of former Emir of Kuwait Sheikh Jaber III al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah, who
nominated Sabah as PM in July 2003, thereby replacing the then Crown Prince of Kuwait,
Sheikh Saad Al-Abdullah Al-Salim Al-Sabah.
 Previously served as Foreign Minister for forty years (1963-2003), making him one of the
world’s longest serving foreign ministers.
 His wife, Sheikha Fatuwah (also his cousin) died before August 1990.
 Has two sons, Sheikh Nasser (Minister of the Ruler's Court “Diwan Amiri”) and Sheikh
Hamed.
 Also had two other children who died (His daughter, Sheikha Salwa, died of
breast cancer in London on 23 June 2002- the Emir named his palace “Dar
Salwa”, or the “House of Salwa” after her; his third son, Sheikh Ahmed, was
killed in a car accident in 1969).
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10. Nawaf al-Sabah
Nawaf al-Sabah
 Born 25 June 1937 in Kuwait City, Steikhdom of Kuwait.
 Crown Prince of Kuwait and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Military of
Kuwait.
 Half-brother of the Emir of Kuwait, Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.
 Was appointed Crown Prince on 7 February 2006, which broke with the Al-
Sabah family’s tradition, which alternates the offices of Emir and Crown Prince
between the Al-Ahmad and Al-Salem branches.
 A son of the 10th Ruler of Kuwait, H.H. Sheikh Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.
 Enrolled in a university in the United Kingdom after he finished his secondary
education.
 One of the most senior serving members of the House of Sabah.
 Served as the Governor of Hawalli Governorate from 1962 to 1978; was
subsequently nominated as the third acting Deputy PM and Minister of the
Interior of the Kuwaiti Ministry of Interior from March 19, 1978 until July 12, 1986.
 Was then nominated Deputy PM and Minister of Defense on January 26, 1988.
 Reassumed the position of Deputy PM and Minister of the Interior on July 13,
2003 until his naming as the official Crown Prince of Kuwait in 2006.
 Is married; has four sons and one daughter.
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11. Jaber Al-Hamad al-Sabah
Jaber Al-Hamad al-Sabah
 Born 5 January 1942 in Kuwait City.
 Member of the Kuwaiti ruling family and PM of Kuwait since 4 December 2011,
having been nominated the same day.
 Was reappointed as PM by the ruler of Kuwait on 5 December 2012 after the
parliamentary election four days earlier.
 Also served as first Deputy PM and Minister of Defense.
 Started his career as an advisor at the administrative affairs department in the
Amiri Diwan in 1968, serving there until 1971; later served as director of the
administrative affairs department in the Diwan until 1975.
 Went on to become assistant undersecretary of administrative and financial
affairs at the Diwan until 1979; became a governor the same year, and served
at Hawally and Ahmedy from 1979 to 1985 and 1985 to 1986, respectively.
 Was named the minister of social and labor affairs, serving from 1986 to 1988;
was also subsequently the minister of information from 1988 to 1990.
 Became an advisor to the office of the Amir, a post he occupied until 2001,
after Kuwait was liberated ten years earlier; was named as Deputy PM and
Minister of Defense on 14 February 2001.
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12. Marzouq Al-Ghanim
Marzouq Al-Ghanim
 Member of and current speaker of Kuwait’s National Assembly;
represents the country’s second district.
 Born 1968.
 Obtained a BA in mechanical engineering, working for Bouyan
Petrochemicals prior to his 2006 election to the National Assembly.
 Considers himself an independent deputy and usually votes with the
other left-leaning businessman members.
 Son of Faiza Al-Kharafi.
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13. The End (‫)النهاية‬