KUWAIT CITY — From boycotting ballots to storming parliament, each time Kuwait heads into parliamentary elections the backstory seems to overshadow the vote. Yet the revolving-door series of elections could have an impact not only on the state, but also on fellow nations in the Gulf and the rest of the region. For the election Saturday to pick a new 50-seat parliament — the most empowered elected political body in the Gulf — there might be another boycott, but the real question is whether the vote will ease the internal pressures on Kuwait's ruling dynasty. The challenges come from an emboldened opposition that includes groups ideologically linked to Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood on the one hand, and on the other, liberals angered by crackdowns such as prison sentences over social media posts. Gulf Arab partners are closely watching the moves by Kuwait's Islamists, considered by the United Arab Emirates and others as part of wider networks seeking to bring down their governments. Washington is deeply vested in Kuwait's stability as a critical link in the Pentagon's military array against nearby Iran. Kuwait hosts thousands of US soldiers in the largest deployment of American ground forces in the region. The main test is whether the election outcome will restore credibility to a political system that appears stuck in a cycle of disputes. “I think there is not much enthusiasm for the elections in general,” said Saad Bin Tefla, a Kuwaiti professor and political analyst. “Counting the upcoming elections, the people of Kuwait will have gone to the polls three times (since February last year). It's humiliating.” Last December, there was an election boycott by an unusual alliance of Islamists, tribal factions and Western-oriented liberals. Before voting in February 2012, Arab Spring-inspired tensions had grown so high that Kuwait's ruler disbanded parliament after opposition-led protesters stormed the chamber. But Kuwait represents the boldest Gulf experiment in permitting political influence outside palace walls. Kuwait's ruling family controls all key government positions, yet nowhere else in the Gulf can elected lawmakers block initiatives or question officials, calling in Cabinet ministers for grilling over alleged mismanagement and other issues. The escalating friction has turned Kuwaiti politics into a complicated web of legal challenges, boycotts and crackdowns over Internet posts deemed insulting to the emir, Sheik Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah. The timing of Saturday's election underlines the extent of the crisis — holding the vote during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan and its dawn-to-dusk fasting, a rare occurrence in the Muslim World. The election was called after Kuwait's top court dissolved parliament in June. But it let stand the emir's decree changing the voting rules to one vote per person. Previously, each voter was allowed four votes that could be spread over several candidates. Critics claimed that encouraged vote-buying and bolstered clan-run political blocs. Late Tuesday, the Constitutional Court rejected an appeal to postpone or cancel the election over claims the government did not have the full authority to set the date after parliament was dissolved. — AP
