Heavy turnout at Kuwait polls as opposition returns

Kuwaitis turned out in large numbers Saturday for the first election contested by the opposition in nearly four years amid fresh disputes over cuts in subsidies due to falling oil revenues.

Turnout was high with some polling stations reporting that 80 percent of eligible voters had cast their ballots by the time polls closed at 8 pm (1700 GMT), according to state-run Kuwait Television.

Vote counting started at some centres but final results are not expected before early Sunday.

Kuwaiti women flash their passports as they arrive to cast their votes at a polling station in Kuwait City on November 26, 2016 ©Yasser Al-Zayyat (AFP)

While Kuwait's two previous elections yielded poor turnout due to opposition boycotts, voters said they were encouraged by seeing their candidates running this time around.

"Their return is needed to strike a political balance in the country. They are more capable of monitoring the government actions," retired voter Ibrahim Al-Tulaihi told AFP at a polling station south of Kuwait City.

"A wise opposition is needed because we don't want more political disputes," Jarrah Mohammad, a government employee, said after casting his ballot.

Unusually for the oil-rich Gulf Arab states, Kuwait has an elected parliament with powers to hold ministers to account, even though senior members of the ruling Al-Sabah family hold all top cabinet posts.

The set-up has led to repeated standoffs between lawmakers and the ruling family and this is the seventh general election in a decade.

The election comes against a backdrop of discontent among Kuwaiti citizens over mounting cutbacks in the cradle-to-grave welfare system they have long enjoyed as a slump in world oil prices hits government revenues.

The emir dissolved the last parliament after MPs called for ministers to be grilled over the cuts to state subsidies.

Islamist opposition candidate Hamad al-Matar, a former MP, said he expects the opposition to win a good number of seats in the 50-member parliament to prevent the government from raising charges.

"There will be no charges on citizens because we have no problem with finances. We have a problem with government management and corruption," Matar told AFP.

The opposition is fielding 30 candidates among a total of 293 hopefuls, including 14 women.

"We want the next parliament to stop the government from hiking prices," said pensioner Maasouma Abdullah.

But others said they could accept a slight raise because of dwindling oil revenues.

"I think we should accept some reasonable raises but not on power and water. Oil revenues have dropped sharply and we should take measures," voter Jabr al-Jalahma told AFP.

- Bleak economic backdrop -

Opposition candidates campaigned heavily for economic and social reform and an end to what they charge is rampant corruption.

The election comes with Kuwait facing its most acute budget crisis in years. Oil income, which accounts for 95 percent of government revenues, has nosedived by 60 percent over the past two years.

Kuwait posted its first budget deficit of $15 billion last year following 16 years of surpluses.

And the emirate has fewer alternatives than its Gulf neighbours, partly because of its elected legislature, analysts say.

"It has built an economic model completely funded by oil and natural gas revenue to support its workforce, but with its empowered parliament it has less flexibility than any other state in the region to abandon that model," US-based intelligence firm Stratfor said in a recent report.

Kuwaiti citizens make up around 30 percent of the emirate's population of 4.4 million. A total of 483,000 are eligible to vote.

A Kuwaiti man writes on his ballot paper before casting his vote for the parliamentary elections at a polling station in Kuwait City on November 26, 2016 ©Yasser Al-Zayyat (AFP) </s> Iraqis head to the polls on Saturday for parliamentary elections.

After the ballot, the 329 members of parliament elected from party lists will be tasked with forming a government and electing a prime minister and president.

Following the 2003 US-led invasion and the fall of Saddam Hussein, Iraq held its first general election in January 2005, selecting a national assembly tasked with drafting a new constitution.

It then held parliamentary elections in December 2005, with two subsequent polls in 2010 and 2014.

Nearly 24.5 million of Iraq’s roughly 38 million people are registered to vote. They are spread out across 18 provinces.

Voters can cast their ballots at 8,959 polling stations across the country, all of which are equipped for electronic voting.

The 285,564 internal refugees eligible to vote can do so in one of 166 polling stations in 70 camps spread across eight provinces in the country.

Voters will select party lists and seats will be divided up according to the number of votes each list secures.

Polling for Iraq’s roughly one million security force personnel and the one million voters living abroad was held ahead of the main election day.

There are 6,990 candidates, including 2,011 women, set to run in the polls.

They will be competing for 329 seats, including nine reserved for minorities — Christians, Shabaks, Yazidis, Mandeans and Fayli Kurds — and 83 for women.

Candidates, selected based on their position in the party, will be elected to four-year terms in parliament.

There are 87 party lists in this year’s election.

The main lists are as follows:

This year, for the first time since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003, the ranks of the executed leader’s oldest opponents, the Shiite Dawa Party, are divided.

Abadi, a key figure in the Dawa Party, has put together a list composed largely of civil society personalities that cross sectarian lines.

– CONQUEST ALLIANCE, led by Hadi al-Ameri, head of the Badr organisation and a leader of the mostly Shiite Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary units, which played a key role in rolling back Islamic State (IS) group jihadists.

His candidates officially quit their military roles to run for office.

This list relies principally on the Dawa Party, which Maliki heads.

But while it is popular with public servants hired under his mandate, the list suffers from criticisms aimed at Maliki because IS seized one-third of the country under his watch.

It includes mostly secular groups including the Iraqi Communist Party and Istiqama (Arabic for righteousness), a party of technocrats backed by Sadr, who suspended his Ahrar bloc and called on his 33 ministers not to run in the polls.

– SUNNIS appear on several lists. The main list, “The National Alliance”, is led by Vice President Iyad Allawi — a Shiite who presents himself as secular — and Sunni head of parliament Salim al-Juburi.

Weakened after three years of IS rule, Sunnis could be the biggest losers in this year’s elections.

– KURDS will head to polls with divided ranks to fill their northern autonomous region’s 46 seats, two of which are reserved for Christians.

The main Kurdish parties are the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) and the Kurdistan Patriotic Union (PUK).

There are also three opposition parties: the main Jamaa Islamiya, the newly created New Generation movement, and Goran (Kurdish for change). </s> KUWAIT CITY (AP) — Results from Kuwait’s election show that men have won all but one of the seats in the oil-rich country’s parliament.

Safaa al-Hashem was the only woman to win one of the 50 seats up for grabs in Saturday’s election. The liberal candidate has served in previous parliaments, and was one of 15 women who ran for seats.

Vote tallies released Sunday also showed gains for members of the opposition, who sat out the last election in 2013.

Kuwait’s government is eager to further reign in generous public spending as the OPEC member copes with a slump in oil prices.

The Western-allied country has the most freewheeling political system among the wealthy Gulf Arab states, though power ultimately rests with the hereditary emir. </s> Image copyright AFP/Getty Image caption Women voting in Batroun, to the north of Beirut

Lebanon has held parliamentary elections for the first time in almost a decade.

The last elections in the country were in 2009, for what was supposed to be a four-year term.

But parliament extended its term twice due to instability in neighbouring Syria, and to reform the country's electoral laws.

It changed the voting system, reduced the number of districts, and allowed expatriate voting for the first time.

Hezbollah, the armed group considered a terrorist organisation by the United States and others, is seeking to increase its parliamentary representation.

Voting for all 128 seats was supposed to close at 19:00 local time (16:00 GMT), however it was extended by an hour at some polling stations.

Turnout was 49.2%, compared to 54% in 2009, Interior Minister Nohad Machnouk said.

Official results are not expected until Monday or Tuesday.

Image copyright AFP/Getty Image caption Voters in the northern city of Tripoli cast their ballots

Tens of thousands of Lebanese citizens living aboard already cast their votes earlier this week - the first time such expatriate voting has been allowed.

The change is down to the new electoral system being used.

It reduces the number of districts, and uses a list-based proportional system for voting, with seats distributed among the various Christian and Islamic groups.

Lebanon has long had a power-sharing political system between the different religious denominations. The number of seats in parliament is split between Christians and Muslims, and the president, prime minister, and speaker of the parliament must each come from a specific religious background.

Current Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri caused a significant political crisis in November, when he fled the country for Saudi Arabia, announcing his resignation in a televised address in which he said he feared an assassination attempt.

Image copyright Reuters Image caption Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri shows his ink-stained finger

He "suspended" his own resignation two weeks later after speaking to President Michel Aoun back in Lebanon, and withdrew his decision entirely in December.

The European Union said it had deployed election observers to all of Lebanon's voting districts.

Major issues facing the newly-elected parliament include the fate of a large number of refugees who have entered the country since the outbreak of the Syrian civil war, and continuing economic difficulties. </s> Iraq's election commission says the results of the first national vote since declaring victory over ISIL are expected within two days.

The vote on Saturday saw a record low turnout, with 44 percent of eligible voters casting ballots. No election since 2003 has had turnout below 60 percent. More than 10 million Iraqis voted.

Polling station officials blamed the low turnout on a combination of tight security measures, voter apathy and irregularities linked to a new electronic voting system.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi is running to keep his post. His chief rivals are political parties with closer ties to Iran, as well as the influential cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, a staunch nationalist who campaigned against government corruption.

Nearly 7,000 candidates from dozens of political alliances are competing for the 329 seats in parliament.

Al-Abadi, who heads the Nasr (Victory) coalition, is seen by some as a front runner, but he faces stiff competition from Hadi al-Amiri, a paramilitary commander heading the Fatah alliance.

Another strong contender is Nouri al-Maliki, a former prime minister who is being seen as a possible kingmaker in the vote.

The results are expected within 48 hours of the vote, according to the independent body overseeing the process.

By Saturday afternoon, less than 20 percent of residents in the capital, Baghdad, had turned out to vote, according to the Iraqi High Electoral Commission (IHEC).

Initial IHEC reports put the overall turnout at 32 percent, compared to about 60 percent in the last elections four years ago.

Commenting on the low participation of voters, Renad Mansour, a research fellow at UK-based think tank Chatham House, told Al Jazeera: "Many Iraqis, especially in Sunni areas do not view the election as legitimate. Many boycotted the vote because they do not believe it will make a difference."

The low turnout was also partly blamed on a curfew and vehicle ban that came into force after midnight across several provinces in Iraq.

The government restrictions left the streets of the capital, Baghdad, looking empty during the early hours of the vote.

With public transport also banned, only vehicles belonging to security forces and politicians were allowed to move around.

"The polling stations were far away from us and without cars allowed, it was really hard to get to the polling stations," said Amal, a housewife living in central Baghdad.

The ban was partially lifted by al-Abadi later in the day, in an effort to improve turnout

Meanwhile, only 285,000 people out of Iraq's displaced population of two million had registered to vote, the electoral commission said.

The poll saw the implementation of a new electronic voting system for the first time in a bid to reduce electoral fraud.

Yet, many wanting to cast their ballots at different polling stations across the country complained of irregularities.

"We visited IHEC and checked the biometric system, we were very surprised how faulty the workflow and management was, we reported this," Hiwa Afandi, the head of the Kurdistan Regional Government's department of information technology, said in a post on Twitter.

"Not using technology is better than a faulty implementation. Auditing and certifying is a must for such application where trust is a big issue," he added.

The IHEC insisted that despite the irregularities, voting hours would not be extended because the electronic voting system had been scheduled to close at 6pm (15:00 GMT).

Negotiations over the formation of a new government are expected to drag on as no single alliance is expected to able to win the 165 seats required for an outright majority.

Instead, the bloc that wins the most seats will have to rely to the support of smaller grouping to achieve majority.

Until a new prime minister is chosen, al-Abadi will remain in office and retain all his powers.

Political power in Iraq is traditionally divided along sectarian lines among the offices of prime minister, president and speaker of parliament.

Since the first elections following the 2003 US-led toppling of Saddam Hussein, the Shia majority has held the position of prime minister, while the Kurds have held the presidency and the Sunnis the post of speaker of parliament.

The constitution sets a quota for female representation, stating that no less than one-fourth of parliament members must be women.

Once the election results are ratified by Iraq's Supreme Court, parliament is required to meet within 15 days.

Its eldest member will chair the first session, during which a speaker will be elected. Parliament must then elect a president by a two-thirds majority vote within 30 days of its first meeting.

The president is charged with naming a member of the largest bloc in parliament - the prime minister-designate - to form a cabinet within 30 days. If that individual fails, the president must nominate a new person for the post of prime minister.

In the past, forming a government has taken up to eight months. In 2005, allegations of vote-rigging delayed the ratification of election results for weeks.

Kurdish areas - where a banned referendum on secession was held last year - witnessed a relatively higher voter turnout compared to other parts across the country, according to reporters on the ground.

"In Kurdish areas, mobilisation might have worked in getting people out to vote. One of the main reasons behind this is that the referendum made Kurds realise that they cannot ignore Baghdad because when they did during the referendum, it backfired," explained Mansour, the Chatham House analyst.

Following the September 2017 referendum, the Iraqi military seized control of disputed territories, including the city of Kirkuk.

The territorial losses left many Kurds disillusioned by their leaders.

As a result, the two main parties that have traditionally dominated the local political scene - the Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) – are now expected to see a drop in their share of the vote.

In contrast, smaller political forces such as Goran (Change), the Democracy and Justice Party - led by former senior PUK official Barham Saleh - and the Kurdistan Islamic Group - also known as Komalk led by Ali Bapir - are likely to record a strong poll showing.

In Baghdad, some Sunni voters expressed hope the election would help Iraq move beyond sectarian politics and become more inclusive.

"I voted for new people to come into the government," Haitham Hasballah, from the capital's neighbourhood of Mansouria, told Al Jazeera.

"The political situation in Iraq has been getting from bad to worse, so we definitely need new faces."

Another voter, Shaker Mahmoud, told Al Jazeera: "I voted for new people. I don't want anyone form the old government. I'm hopeful that change will take Iraq towards a positive direction."

Still, others in central Baghdad said they voted for al-Abadi, giving him credit for Iraq's military victory over ISIL.

After ISIL overran nearly a third of Iraq in the summer of 2014, the group launched waves of suicide bombings targeting civilians in Baghdad and in other areas of government-controlled territory.

But with support from a US-led coalition and Iran, al-Abadi oversaw a fierce war against the group's fighters and declared victory over ISIL in December 2017.

Despite al-Abadi's military achievements, Iraq continues to struggle with an economic downturn sparked in part by a drop in global oil prices, entrenched corruption and years of political gridlock.

The war left more than two million Iraqis, mostly Sunnis, displaced from their homes, with cities, towns and villages suffering heavy destruction. Repairing infrastructure across Anbar and Nineveh provinces, both majority Sunni areas, will cost tens of billions of dollars.

The election comes at a critical juncture in Iraq's relations with Iran and the US.

Both countries are allies of the Iraqi government but their bilateral ties are increasingly strained.

Additional reporting by Arwa Ibrahim from Doha, and Osama al-Zein and Bakr Ubaidi in Baghdad </s> Labour supporters take to the streets to celebrate after early results indicate a comfortable victory for ruling party.

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has declared victory in Malta's snap election after preliminary results showed his Labour Party heading towards a second mandate.

A sample count of ballots on Sunday showed Labour having a majority of more than 30,000 votes, equivalent to nearly 10 percent of the electorate.

"It is clear that the people have chosen to stay the course," said Muscat, who called the snap vote to counter allegations of corruption against his wife and some of his political allies.

Simon Busuttil, the leader of the opposition Nationalist Party (PN), made a telephone call to Muscat to concede defeat in Saturday's election.

"As always, we respect the decision of the electorate," Busuttil said in a tweet.

After the announcement of the preliminary results,Labour supporters took to the streets in celebration, gathering near party clubs and waving flags.

A crowd gathered near the party's headquarters and workers were erecting a stage at the granaries in Floriana, Times of Malta reported.

The turnout was 92 percent of the more than 340,000 eligible voters, the election commission said. Official results are expected later on Sunday.

Muscat, 43, is expected to be sworn in on Monday, after which he will begin forming his new government that will have a five-year mandate.

During the election campaign, Muscat promised continuity and greater wealth for a country that has the lowest unemployment rate ever at 4.1 percent - the third lowest in Europe - and in 2016 registered a budget surplus for the first time in three decades.

The victory indicates that there will be no major disruption to the business of the European Union, whose presidency Malta holds until the end of this month.

Shortly after polls closed, Malta's President Marie Louise Coleiro Preca called for a process of reconciliation to begin after what she called a campaign full of "aggressive and abusive language" both by politicians and the public.

"I want to see people returning to open dialogue, which is the basis of a healthy democracy," she said.

Muscat, who has been prime minister since 2013, went to the polls a year after his wife was accused of being the beneficial owner of a secret Panamanian shell company used to bank unexplained payments from Azerbaijan's ruling family.

His chief of staff and a government minister have separately admitted having their own, previously undeclared Panama-registered companies, following revelations from last year's massive data leak from the Mossack Fonseca legal firm based in the Central American country.

Muscat has come under fire for not sacking the two of them.

The PN had warned that even if Muscat won the election, he would still remain under pressure as magistrates investigate claims of corruption made against him and his ministers.

Muscat has however denied any wrongdoing and promised to quit if any evidence emerges of his family having an undeclared offshore account. </s> Election workers count ballots at the end of voting for the parliamentary election in Algiers, Algeria, May 4, 2017. — Reuters picALGIERS, May 5 — Algerians voted yesterday for a new parliament amid soaring unemployment and a deep financial crisis caused by a collapse in oil revenues.

But despite urgent challenges facing the country, candidates have struggled to inspire voters disillusioned by what many see as broken government promises and a tainted political system.

“Corruption has plagued politics. How can you vote for a candidate who has paid to be selected by a party?” asked Ali, a merchant in the town of Blida, 45 kilometres (30 miles) southwest of Algiers.

He was referring to a scandal which has filled Algerian newspapers of candidates having paid for their names to be added to party lists.

The North African country weathered the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings with massive spending on wages and subsidies that depleted government coffers.

But a 2014 slump in crude oil prices forced the government to raise taxes and mothball many public projects.

Today, in a country of 40 million where half the population is under 30, one young person in three is unemployed.

Some 45,000 police officers were deployed yesterday to guard the more than 53,000 polling stations across the country.

President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who has rarely been seen in public since a 2013 stroke, voted from a wheelchair at a polling booth in Algiers.

It was the ailing 80-year-old leader’s first appearance before the international media since he was sworn in for a fourth term in April 2014.

Wearing a suit and tie, he went behind a curtain to mark his ballot, which one of his nephews slipped into the box, and posed for photographers without making any comment.

Voting was extended by an hour in 42 of the 48 electoral districts, closing at 8pm and the first results are expected later this morning.

Algerians have shown little enthusiasm for the election. Streets of the capital were nearly deserted in the morning.

Interior Minister Nourredine Bedoui told state television voter participation at 5pm stood at 35.53 per cent.

French-language daily El Watan spoke of “popular disinterest in this election”, widely expected to maintain the dominance of the two pro-Bouteflika parties in parliament.

Blida’s cafes filled with men who sat discussing the election, but not all planned to vote.

“This facade of a parliament should be abolished. The government passes all its laws, even the most controversial ones,” said Hocine, 35.

Mohamed, 65, said he was voting “to elect deputies who will relay the demands and the struggles of the society. This is the only issue in this election”.

But officials, fearing a low turnout and public apathy, spent weeks urging people to take part.

Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal called for a “massive vote”, urging women to wake their husbands early, refuse them coffee and “drag” them to the polling stations.

“If they resist, hit them with a stick,” he told an all-female audience in the eastern city of Setif.

Bouteflika has said a strong turnout was essential for the country’s stability.

The authorities have also used mosques to spread the message, with imams urging Algerians to go to the polls.

Bouteflika’s National Liberation Front (FLN) and its coalition ally, the Rally for National Democracy (RND), have enjoyed a comfortable majority since a 2012 poll, which they are expected to retain.

But Nourredine Bekis, professor of sociology at the University of Algiers, said parliamentarians had little real influence.

“The president holds all the power,” Bekis said.

Islamists, who held 60 seats in the outgoing parliament, represent the country’s main opposition force.

In 2012, they had hoped they could replicate the gains of their peers in Egypt and Tunisia after the Arab Spring, but they suffered their worst ever electoral defeat.

This year, they have formed two electoral alliances in bids to do better.

But since Algeria adopted a multi-party system in 1989, the opposition has repeatedly accused the ruling parties of electoral fraud.

Turnout in 2012 reached just over 43 per cent. Experts say even that figure was inflated.

But 80-year-old Si Sadou Yamina said yesterday she was voting to do her “duty”.

Battling pain, diabetes and hypertension, she arrived at a polling booth in Blida before it even opened at 8am.

“I’ve never missed a vote, and I’m not going to start today,” she said. — AFP </s> Beirut, May 6 (IANS) Polling stations opened across Lebanon on Sunday for the first parliamentary elections in almost a decade.

The last elections in the country took place in 2009, for what was supposed to be a four-year term, reports the BBC.

But parliament extended its term twice due to instability in neighbouring Syria and to reform the country’s electoral laws.

Hezbollah is seeking to increase its parliamentary representation.

Voting for all 128 seats will continue till 7 p.m.

Official results are not expected until Monday or Tuesday, but analysts expect early details to emerge on Sunday night.

Tens of thousands of Lebanese citizens living aboard have already cast their votes earlier this week – the first time such expatriate voting has been allowed.

The change is due to the new electoral system being used, the BBC reported.

It also reduces the number of districts and uses a list-based proportional system for voting, with seats distributed among the various Christian and Islamic groups.

Lebanon has long had a power-sharing political system between the different religious denominations.

The number of seats in parliament is split between Christians and Muslims, and the president, prime minister, and speaker of the parliament must each come from a specific religious background.

The European Union said it has deployed election observers to all of Lebanon’s voting districts.

Major issues facing the newly-elected parliament include the fate of a large number of refugees who have entered the country since the outbreak of the Syrian civil war, and continuing economic difficulties. </s> Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption It is not clear if voting papers have been destroyed

A fire has been brought under control at Iraq's biggest ballot paper storage depot days after an election recount was ordered.

Votes for the eastern district of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, were being held in the depot.

Officials say some ballot boxes could have been in a warehouse that burnt down but most were safe.

Last month's legislative elections were won by an alliance headed by Shia Muslim cleric Moqtada Sadr.

Amid allegations of fraud, the outgoing parliament ordered a recount of about 10 million votes.

The depot housed ballot boxes from the city's al-Rusafa district.

An interior ministry spokesman told Reuters news agency the blaze had been confined to one of four warehouses.

Iraqi authorities have not commented on whether they think the blaze was caused deliberately.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi warned that security agencies had evidence of "unprecedented" violations during the elections.

He said the main issue was with the electronic vote-counting machines that were used for the first time on 12 May.

Fire 'plot'

Though the cause of the fire was not reported, Mr Abadi described it as a "plot to harm the [Iraqi] nation and its democracy".

He said the government would "take all necessary measures and strike with an iron fist against those who undermine Iraq's security".

The outgoing speaker of the Iraqi parliament has said the election should be repeated as a result of the fire.

Salim al-Jabouri, who lost his seat in May's election, said the fire was "a deliberate act, a planned crime, aimed at hiding instances of fraud and manipulation of votes".

Image copyright Reuters Image caption Mr Sadr - who once led a militia which fought occupying US troops - led an alliance that won the most votes

Mr Sadr's nationalist grouping formed an alliance with a number of secular parties.

It won 54 of the 328 seats in parliament - making it the largest bloc in the post election landscape.

The cleric, who has ruled himself out of becoming Iraq's prime minister, once led a militia which fought US troops.

One of Mr Sadr's aides, Dhiaa al-Asadi, said on Twitter (in Arabic) that he thought the fire was carried out "to cancel the election or destroy the stuffed ballots counted amongst the results".

A bloc linked to Iranian-backed paramilitaries that have battled the jihadist group Islamic State (IS) over the past four years came second with 47 seats.

The election, the first held since the government declared victory over IS in December, saw a turnout of 44.5% - much lower than in previous polls.
Kuwait, where citizens make up around 30 percent of the emirate's 4.4 million population, votes in a snap election following parliament's dissolution on 16 October amid the impact of falling oil prices. This is the first election the opposition has not boycotted in nearly four years.