Far fewer candidates have registered for the parliamentary elections in Kuwait than for the elections held last year.
The number of applicants on Monday reached 104, including two women. That compares with last year's 222 candidates, 12 of whom were women, Kuwait's Interior Ministry said.
Kuwaitis are heading to the polls for the third time in three years following a decree by Kuwait's Crown Prince Sheikh Meshal Al Sabah to dissolve the National Assembly earlier in the month.
The country has set June 6 as national election day, as polls must be held within two months of parliament's dissolution, according to the constitution.
The parliament, first elected in 2020, was dissolved last year in an attempt to end political feuding between the government and the elected parliament. A vote was held in September, in which the opposition made gains. The results were regarded as the most inclusive in a decade.
But the Constitutional Court in March annulled those results and restored the previous assembly.
The number of former members of parliament who have submitted their candidacy papers stood at 21 on Monday, with outgoing parliament Speaker Marzouq Al Ghanim among those seeking re-election.
Mr Al Ghanim did not run in the 2022 elections, during which political opposition figures made significant gains. He has been involved in a dispute with Kuwait's Prime Minister and the emir's son Sheikh Ahmad Al Sabah.
During his speech dissolving parliament last week, Crown Prince Sheikh Meshal said he would dissolve the 2020 parliament “upon the will of the people,” and pledged some “legal and political reforms to help turn the country to a new phase of discipline and legal reference”.
“This also aims to avoid differences and abuse in using power by the executive and legislative authorities and to ensure neutralism and transparency,” he added.
Key findings of Jenkins report
- Founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan al Banna, "accepted the political utility of violence"
- Views of key Muslim Brotherhood ideologue, Sayyid Qutb, have “consistently been understood” as permitting “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” and “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
- Muslim Brotherhood at all levels has repeatedly defended Hamas attacks against Israel, including the use of suicide bombers and the killing of civilians.
- Laying out the report in the House of Commons, David Cameron told MPs: "The main findings of the review support the conclusion that membership of, association with, or influence by the Muslim Brotherhood should be considered as a possible indicator of extremism."
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What is blockchain?
Blockchain is a form of distributed ledger technology, a digital system in which data is recorded across multiple places at the same time. Unlike traditional databases, DLTs have no central administrator or centralised data storage. They are transparent because the data is visible and, because they are automatically replicated and impossible to be tampered with, they are secure.
The main difference between blockchain and other forms of DLT is the way data is stored as ‘blocks’ – new transactions are added to the existing ‘chain’ of past transactions, hence the name ‘blockchain’. It is impossible to delete or modify information on the chain due to the replication of blocks across various locations.
Blockchain is mostly associated with cryptocurrency Bitcoin. Due to the inability to tamper with transactions, advocates say this makes the currency more secure and safer than traditional systems. It is maintained by a network of people referred to as ‘miners’, who receive rewards for solving complex mathematical equations that enable transactions to go through.
However, one of the major problems that has come to light has been the presence of illicit material buried in the Bitcoin blockchain, linking it to the dark web.
Other blockchain platforms can offer things like smart contracts, which are automatically implemented when specific conditions from all interested parties are reached, cutting the time involved and the risk of mistakes. Another use could be storing medical records, as patients can be confident their information cannot be changed. The technology can also be used in supply chains, voting and has the potential to used for storing property records.
