Kuwaitis voted Saturday for a new parliament, the National Assembly. The country's ruler, Sheik Sabah Al Ahmed Al Sabah, disbanded the 50-seat parliament in March after the Cabinet resigned en masse, with members saying they couldn't work with lawmakers who "interfered" with their work and were constantly trying to impeach them.
Parliament has typically challenged the authority of the royal Al Sabah family by grilling Cabinet members and holding votes of no confidence against them. The royal family has tried to thwart them through Cabinet reshuffles and parliament dissolutions.
The last parliament election in 2006 also occurred after Sheik Sabah dissolved the parliament.
Some lawmakers are pushing the royal family to reform the system to allow parliament to choose the Cabinet, but the royal family has resisted the suggestion.
According to the AP, a total of 275 candidates are running for the 50 seats in parliament. The candidate pool includes 27 women. According to Kuna, there are a total of 361,684 eligible voters. A total of 413 electoral committees have been set up in 97 schools around the country.
© 2008 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
