Kuwait Shias win historic results in parliamentary election: Janati

In an exclusive interview with Khabar Online, Ali Janati considered the Shia minority as the real victor of the election in Kuwait as they could secure a third of the seats for the first time, while they won seven seats in the scrapped 2012 Parliament and had between five to six candidates in previous parliaments.
Meanwhile, the country’s opposition lost majority in Parliament as they boycotted the election in protest against changes to the electoral law. Their representation at the parliament reduced to four from 36 in previous parliament.
The opposition decided to boycott the election to protest against the government's unilateral amendment of Kuwait's key electoral law, which cut the number of candidates a voter could elect from four to one.
The differences between members of the group that is now called as the opposition has been rooted in the regime. Their main problem was with Sheikh Nasser Mohammed, the then prime minister, believing he was leading a weak government and had failed to provide developments in the country, Janati said.
The opposition has also challenged the corruption of the Kuwait government, as it is said that some governmental officials received substantial bribes, and even bribed some MPs or tried to buy votes in a bid to have a seat at the parliament, former Iranian envoy added.
Meanwhile, the opposition groups are expected to stage demonstrations across the country in a bid to force the government to scrap the parliament or accept their demands that Kuwait’s prime minister should not be a member of the ruling family. They have requested that the country’s premier should be selected by the parliament and that the country’s key ministries should not be led by members of the monarchy, Janati also said.
Janati declared that the opposition could not claim that there was fraud in Kuwait’s election, as there has always been election monitors in all election centers across the country, and that the government invited monitors from Jordan and Lebanon to observe this year’s election held on December 1.
The opposition only said that the new parliament couldn’t represent the majority of Kuwaiti people, as many of the people boycotted the poll, Janati added.