Country Profile
Risk Assessment National Assembly (Majlis al-Umma). In Economy Good consultation with the prime minister the Politics Fair Emir appoints the Council of Ministers, Regional stability Fair who may not be members of parliament, although they assume ex-officio mem- Political Structure bership during their term of office. Constitution The Emir rules by decrees agreed by The Constitution was enacted on 29 the Council of Ministers and approved by January 1963. It authorises the ruling parliament. He is also supreme com- al-Sabah family to choose an Emir, who mander of the armed forces. holds executive power and can proclaim Since 2003, the office of prime minis- legislation by decree. ter has been separated from the office of The Constitution ascribes the political the Crown Prince, allowing greater inde- system as democratic, with sovereignty pendence of the legislature. residing in the people. Impartial personal National legislature liberty and equality of rights and duties The unicameral Majlis al-Umma (Na- before the law are guaranteed. tional Assembly) has 65 seats of which 50 The Emir or one-third of the national members are directly elected in assembly may propose amending the multi-seat constituencies by simple ma- Constitution by deleting or adding new jority vote. The remaining fifteen mem- clauses, except for the Emiri system of bers are ex-officio cabinet ministers ap- government and the principles of liberty pointed by the prime minister. All and equality unless to increase provi- members serve four-year terms. Legisla- sions. Approval by a two-thirds majority tion must be confirmed by two-thirds of is required for such a bill to succeed. the National Assembly membership be- Males aged over 21 may vote; women fore being endorsed by the Emir. aged over 21 have been able to vote since There is a cabinet with a total of 15 2007. members which may be elected from the Independence date National Assembly membership or ap- 19 June 1961 pointed ex officio. Form of state In October 2012, six weeks ahead of Constitutional monarchy (Emirate) the election due on 1 December, the elec- The executive toral system was changed, with voters re- Executive power resides with the stricted to voting for one candidate, hav- Emir, who is also Head of State and ap- ing previously been allowed to vote for points a prime minister, acceptable to the four candidates. Country Profile 421
Legal system Political parties The Judiciary is based on Egyptian No political parties are allowed, al- laws, derived from French law. The legal though informal groupings exist. Candi- system is a mix of Sharia (Islamic law) dates standing for election to the Na- and Napoleonic law. tional Assembly do so as individuals, In 1960, a unified judicial system was although they maybe a member of a po- adopted, establishing different levels of litical group. courts. There are three separate divisions The largest such groupings are the Is- including the Courts of First Instance lamic Patriotic Coalition (a Shi’a funda- subdivided into criminal, commercial mentalist group), two Sunni fundamen- and civil boards, the Constitutional Court talist groups, the Islamic Constitutional and the Court of State Security. The judi- Movement and the Islamic Popular ciary is administered by a council of Grouping (also known as the Salafi). The seven senior judges and minister. Kuwait Democratic Forum is the largest Last elections secular political group and has liberal 28 November 2016 (parliamentary) and Arab nationalist opinions. Parliamentary: all candidates stand as independents since political parties are Population banned. Results: Representing the fourth 4.6 million (IMF 2018 estimate); for- election since February 2012 and the sev- eign workers are estimated to outnumber enth in a decade, opposition groups won Kuwaiti citizens by over 70 per cent. 24 seats out of 50. Around half are from a Population density: 238 inhabitants Muslim Brotherhood-linked group and per square km. Urban population 91.1 per Salafists, a third from new members and cent. Annual growth rate: 1.24 per cent, one woman, out of 15 who stood for elec- 2018–19. tion, succeeded. The Shia minority was Religions reduced to six seats from nine. Turnout Muslim (official) 76.7 per cent, Chris- was 70 per cent – the highest ever re- tian 17.3 per cent, other and unspecified corded. 5.9 per cent 15 March 2019 (by-election) Supplementary elections were held to Education replace Islamist MPs Dr Waleed State education is basically free, in- al-Tabtabaei and Dr Jam’an al-Harbash cluding books, meals, transport, uni- who lost their seats on 19 December 2018. forms, even allowances. There are voca- Independent candidates Badr al-Mulla tional schools such as teacher-training, and Abdullah al-Kandari won the seats. industrial/technological, commercial, re- Turnout was 42 per cent. ligious and special establishments. Pri- Next elections vate schools are also important, partly be- 26 November 2020 (National Assem- cause of the requirements of the bly). expatriate community. About half the