The Kuwaiti opposition’s return to the parliament

The Kuwaiti opposition has not agreed on anything since the dismissal of Prime Minister Shaikh Nasser Mohammed Al-Sabah in 2011. It agreed to boycott the 2013 parliamentarian elections; three years later, though, this consensus has broken down. Now, it seems that those insisting on boycotting the elections are a minority, albeit an important minority led by former parliamentary speaker and one of the leaders of the Popular Action Bloc, Ahmed Al-Saadoun.

The dissolution of the parliament this week, at the request of the resigning Council of Ministers, came as a surprise, especially as this parliament was not troublesome like its predecessors. However, the sudden dissolution (with justifications including — incredibly — the expected hot weather on the original date planned for summer 2017) could also signal a lack of desire for the return of the opposition to parliament, which has been quiet for three years but with no reflection on the development conditions in Kuwait, which the parliament, including the opposition, is accused of disabling.

The suddenness of the dissolution was meant to confuse the opposition, so it would make a quick decision to end the boycott or continue it. Although most opposition blocs and groups announced the end of their boycott before this happened — particularly the Islamists of the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafists — preparation for early elections was not on their agenda; they were waiting for next summer.

It doesn’t look like the opposition has benefitted from boycotting the 2013 parliamentary election, which was called in protest at the one-vote law. According to opposition leaders, this helps to manipulate elections, and allows those who don’t deserve to “represent the nation” to buy their way into office. It seems that the excessive opposition lobbying for a boycott, and its regarding of the move as a matter of principle, is making it awkward to back down, although not difficult.

Several factors have made the boycott useless, the most important of which is the inability of the opposition in Kuwait to agree on a clear political agenda, after the consensus on rejecting a former prime minister and calling for his resignation in 2008. Furthermore, the regional situation has affected and confused political and social conditions in Kuwait. The years 2014 and 2015 were the most difficult for Kuwaitis; pro-Daesh groups targeted mosques in the Gulf State to ignite sectarian strife, and some groups affiliated with Hezbollah and the Iranian Revolutionary Guards were preparing to react, according to the Kuwaiti authorities which arrested the groups and confiscated their weapons.

Along with this security dilemma, the likes of which Kuwait has not witnessed since the Iraqi occupation, came the fall in the oil price and the government’s austerity policies. Together they made difficult economic conditions connected with the political confusion. However, it looks as if the country has overcome the security crisis this year.

Kuwait’s destiny was to be a small state in a troubled region, and to be full of sectarian and tribal diversity. This geo-strategic and social situation, along with the presence of a relatively democratic constitution since 1962, gave Kuwait a different status in the region. The turmoil in Iraq, Iranian ambitions and the threat of terrorism, though, are all critical factors in Kuwaiti politics, and they overshadow domestic issues, including the relationship between the government and the opposition, the structure of the government itself and internal problems within the opposition.

Perhaps the decision of the opposition to go back to parliament is a difficult one, but it seems that there is no alternative, especially with the slowdown of political activity over the past three years, in contrast to the activities of the “Orange Campaign” or “We want five”, which demanded a change into five constituencies in Kuwait in 2006.

The opposition, or most of it, will return to the parliament, and some of its leading lights will be elected as part of a parliamentary system that has been founded on the basis of not giving a majority to any bloc. Controversy will be back between the government and the opposition within the Council, according to the Kuwaiti constitution, which has given Kuwaitis this right for over half-a-century. Nevertheless, the experience of the past three years will have its impact on the relationship between the government and the opposition: the former cannot ignore the opposition for long, and the opposition cannot continue to resist it; in the end, the ultimate decision is made through elections and the constitutional foundations of the country.

Translated from Al-Arabi Al-Jadid, 20 October 2016

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