Manama: Kuwait's National Assembly (parliament) will be led by an all-male body, according to elections results announced on Sunday.
None of the 29 female candidates vying for the legislature managed to win their races including a sitting female lawmaker.
It is the first time since 2012 that there will not be a female legislator in parliament since they were given the right to vote and run for office in 2005.
Comparing previous years, this is the largest number of women to have ever run for parliament.
The election was held on Saturday and a total of 326 candidates contested for the 50-member legislature.
The new parliament will have 31 new members, signalling a change in direction. Opposition increased their seat share in the parliament as they won 24 of the assembly’s 50 seats, up from 16 in the previous parliament. But several previous MP’s lost their race.
Saturday’s election was the first since new emir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah took office in September, succeeding his half-brother, the late emir Sabah.
In 1963, Kuwait became the first country in the Gulf to establish an elected parliament, and while it routinely holds free parliamentary elections, the emir appoints the government.
As political parties banned, all candidates ran as individuals and many groups operate freely as de facto parties. One of those is an opposition coalition made up of individuals, rather than well-defined parties with a distinct ideology.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Sabah Al-Sabah’s Cabinet resigned in a routine procedure after the election.
Sheikh Nawaf will appoint a prime minister to select a new Cabinet. The first session of the parliament will meet on Dec. 15. According to reports, Sheikh Sabah Khalid Assabah may be re-elected Prime Minister.
Kuwait’s economy, which is worth nearly $140 billion, is facing a deficit of $46 billion this year.
