Kuwait Times, Thursday, Mar 30, 2023 | Ramadan 8, 1444
Assembly panels finalizing election commission law
Kuwait :
The National Assembly’s legal and legislative
committee on Wednesday discussed in a meeting a draft law calling to establish
an independent higher election commission to oversee parliamentary polls.
Rapporteur of the panel MP Hisham Al-Saleh, a member of the court-reinstated
Assembly, said the committee will vote on the draft law in a meeting on Sunday.
He said the draft legislation states that the commission board will comprise of
seven representatives from each of the judicial, legislative and executive
authorities, in addition to representatives from civil societies. The bill
places controls on election campaigns and limits spending on such campaigns. It
also has a set of controls to ensure free and fair elections.
The legal committee only ensures that the draft law is in line with the
constitution and existing laws. The bill will be given final approval by the
interior and defense committee. A number of MPs from the reinstated 2020
Assembly have alleged that the Sept 2022 elections witnessed wide-ranging
rigging and MP Obaid Al-Wasmi has called for an investigation.
Speaker Marzouq Al-Ghanem last week called for fresh and fair elections as a way
out of the ongoing political crisis in the country. But he insisted that any
elections must be held only after establishing a high election commission to
oversee the polls.
Head of the Assembly’s interior and defense committee MP Saadoun Hammad on
Wednesday called on the legal committee to refer the election commission draft
law to his committee to study it. Hammad said that the committee wants to ensure
that the legislation will guarantee free, fair and fully transparent elections.
He said the law will ensure that candidates will have representatives at
election centers and during the counting of votes, and that they will have
complete access to monitor the election process.