Kuwait: Electronic counting 'not fool-proof'

Najla Al-Naqqi, a former candidate to the National Assembly and a women's rights activist delivered a lecture on women's role in politics. Former candidates Ayesha Al-Amairi, Jamila Al-Fouadri, Dr. Layla Al-Sabaan and Sameera Al-Shatti attended the event.

Al-Naqqi said that even though female candidates could not secure a seat at the Parliament, they put in good efforts and held influential election campaigns. She noted that Kuwaiti women faced many challenges like reduced electoral constituencies(from a previous 25). She expressed hope that Kuwait will be announced as a single electoral constituency in the near future.

Al-Naqqi said that the new five-constituency electoral system has some benefits, even though negative aspects like votes buying exists, reported Al-Watan. She said that the new electronic system used to count votes was not fool-proof.

She highlighted the discrepancy in vote counting by citing the example of a female candidate who received 330 votes when an electronic count was performed. After the votes were counted manually, however, it was found that she had received 442 votes.

Meanwhile, MPs from different political factions emphasized on the role played by Parliamentary Blocs. Each bloc represents a particular political stream.They said that these blocs are 'Kuwaiti' substitutes to the party system present in democratic countries. There will be a quality change of structure in the political blocs, which is expected to be announced during the current session.

For the first time, MP Hassan Johar said that his group is considering acknowledging the presence of other political blocs. This implies that for the first time, a political group based on religious lines may contribute toward increasing the number of Parliamentary blocs into five.

The National Democratic Alliance bloc is still undecided about selecting a new name for itself or joining forces with other blocs to become a liberal bloc.

The Popular Action Bloc which is headed by MP Ahmad Al-Saadoun, has lost many members either through their resignation or failure to reach the Parliament. The remaining members are looking forward to cooperating with a new bloc. Also, the fate of the Independents remains undecided.

-- Kuwait Times