Last Thursday, Kuwait had its Parliamentary Elections; 5 electoral districts sending 50 representatives to the national assembly. I did not sleep, due to time difference between Kuwait and where I study, because I wanted to follow up polls and then the vote count. Everyone had a beautiful spirit as they went to vote and I started calling people I know to urge them to go vote even if they felt the general status is too depressing, hopeless, and useless for them to bother. I was thrilled with the fact that several friends asked me to decide one of their 4 votes (each citizen votes for four names) because I am stateless (
Bedoon) and is not allowed to vote. It was a beautiful gesture that I will always remember.
Hours passed after the vote-count and my first tweet in comment on the results was:
I was truly disappointed with the results and shocked of how people choices can take you by surprise and leave you incapable of finding a way out. Those who are not from Kuwait were wondering why would the results be upsetting to me since the opposition has gained two thirds of the parliament. I have myself protested against the former prime minister and was in favor or replacing him but that does not necessarily mean that I would, by any means, support an
opposition that has no reformative intentions (they have been in the parliament long enough for anyone to tell so) and surely include some sectarian and discriminatory faces. I was
expecting this win for the opposition and specifically for the Muslim Brotherhood. My concern is that the results show how fragmented the Kuwaiti society is and how full of sectarian and racist hate many of the voters are.
There's a power struggle; the Hadhar 'urbans' have always been in power and do not like the fact that the tribes are gaining more and more power and have an access to the street. They do not like the fact that they are being out numbered. Therefore, insults against tribes were favored by those who feel intimidated and surely led 'the mass' to make the very wrong decision.
The same power struggle can be seen within the sectarian frame especially as the Shia community closes on itself in fear of 'the other' and in refusal of the only Shia "Hassan Jawhar" who stood with the opposition against the former prime minister. Almost four years ago, a controversial incident took place in Kuwait as
two Shia MPs (Adnan Abdulsamad and Ahmed Lary) led the funeral of Imad Mughaniya, a member of Hezboallah accused of hijacking a Kuwaiti plane in 1986.
The Action Bloc, in reaction, decided to expel both MPs from their group. Since then, Shia felt obligated to side with the former PM as their only optional ally. Shia, prior to that, were not acting as one bloc.
That being said, as an introduction, here I write this post to explain why I think the elections results suck. big time.
1- Mohammed Al-Juwaihel: in the past years, Juwaihel was nothing but a controversial puppet that goes on TV to attack tribes of Kuwait calling them duel citizens (Saudi-Kuwaiti), disloyal, rootless seeds, new comers etc. He was beaten and attacked several times before because of the insults he makes. When it comes to the stateless of Kuwait, he surely thinks they should not be given any righta and that they are nothing but mercenaries. Last elections, he was taken off the elections for trying to 'buy votes.' He started a TV station that had nothing but a talk show for him to spread his racist statements.
Due to the power struggle that Kuwait lived in the past two years, Juwaihel was able to form a base of voters for himself. Those who felt intimidated by the opposition and the tribes in specific, went and voted for him, especially after
the attack of Al-Mutair tribe men on his center. To see someone like Juwaihel winning in the 3rd district, the district that is assumed to be rich with its diversity, is just one more indicator of how communities in Kuwait are getting more and more extreme in rejecting each other. His existence in the parliament only means a lot of trouble, clown-shows, racist remarks, and so much tension.
2- Mohammed Hayef Al-Mutairi: This is one of the main faces that media refers to as a member of the 'opposition.' The man who is solely elected because of his Mutair tribe (who blindly elect any of its men in the 4th district) and his long beard. First time Hayef was elected, he refused to stand up for the national anthem and said it is a sort of 'infidelity' because he only stands for God! Hayef never made any sense in the parliament, never made any good proposal or suggestion. He uses his parliament seat to attack the Shia all the time and the rest of the sectarian cycle. Men such as this one fueled sectarianism in Kuwait and are doing well in keeping it alive!
3- Waleed Al-Tabtabi: Kuwait's biggest curse, I call him. This is the man who proposed passing a law that permits arresting any man or woman who dresses like the other gender. It is true that this law is not being applied widely, but
many LGBT had to go through hell because of this law that put them in jail for a year. This is not his only achievement for sure, He is pro-segregation in education, and everywhere. He was enraged, like Hayef, by the fact that Kuwait did not interfere in Bahrain with 'the shield of the peninsula'. He is the father of censorship and the fighter of Music. Surely, he was like several opposition MPs (especially the Salafis) accused of being bribed by a ruling family member to speak up against the former PM. He surely has a special love to deepen sectarian hate and led to the
arrest of a twitter user.
4- Abdulhamid Dashti: the fact that this guy won the elections explain what I mentioned above about how Shia are feeling intimidated; the minority's phobia of repression. Many Shia felt the need to side with the former PM because he was attacked by extreme Sunnis, because he allied with Shia MPs, and because Kuwait did not stand against Bahrain 'Shia' protesters (although that was the decision of the Amir). Dashti, thanks to
Twitter, advocated for Bahrain protesters, on one side, AND for Syria's criminal regime, on the other! A typical sectarian hypocrite. It is
rumored that he is married to
Abdulhalim Khaddam's relative!
5- No Women, No Cry: Kuwaitis have been bragging about the fact that four women were elected last elections without any electoral coda. Indeed, it was a victory to celebrate especially as Dr. Maasoma Al-Mubarak ranked the first in the 1st district, and Dr. Aseel Al-Awadhi ranked second in the 3rd district. The new parliament has ZERO WOMEN! This indicates that the last round got four women because that was the biggest question/challenge back then, but as the country got into this tense clash between the two powers (parliament and government) women were turned into second-class politicians who are not qualified, as polls show, to take part in the political decision-making process. It is true that those women, except for Dr. Aseel, acted as puppets in defense of the government and made no contributions, as many think, but after all, such a take only shows how women are seen as a group not as equal citizen and partners in power.
6- Liberals who? I do not believe Kuwait has true liberals. It, once upon a time, had true leftists. After 1991, the left wing went in complete decline, which made them disappear from the political sphere. The new trend was to call yourself a liberal, since the US became Kuwait's first ally and saver. Kuwait's liberals are mostly of Urban high class and many of them depend of their community/ familism to win the elections. They have always stood against the rights of the stateless for racist reasons and/or political fears. However, in general, they are the most open minded who stand against segregation and censorship among other things.
More importantly, they never make sectarian remarks and in general try to keep their language 'civilized' unlike many of the MPs. I think Kuwait's liberals have had a lousy performance in strategic terms and were not smart enough when it comes to the place they stood in lately towards the power struggle; they were not key players. Therefore, Dr. Aseel and Saleh Al-Mulla lost their seats, Mohammed Al-Abuljader, Mohammed Bousihri, Ahmed Al-Obaid did not make it to the parliament, Abdulrahman Al-Anjari won; not as a liberal but as an opposition MP who allied with the action bloc. The only two 'liberals' who made it were Mohammed Al-Saqer and Marzooq Al-Ghanim and I completely attribute their success to the fact that they come from old-money families not because of their ideological stand.
To summarize, I believe all those factors put together explain why I find the results very disappointing. I think, once again, Kuwait is going into a dark tunnel where our main concern does not revolve around ideological/political differences but actually around the fact that there are several players in power who can cause so much hatred, division, and repression, one way or another.
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