On the Kuwaiti parliamentary elections

The setback which hit the liberal trend, gives signals that the coming Kuwaiti government will have its happy days while dealing with the Parliament whose general lines were drawn in Saturday's elections.

The parliament gained 18 new parliamentarians, five kept their seats, while the number of Islamic parliamentarians in general reached 18. Rate of participation in the elections reached 81%, 46% lost their seats, less than the elections of 1999.

However, what is still unchanged is that one battle, or battles might be opened either on arranging the ruling house or separating the post of the crown prince from the presidency of the government, ministerizing the parliamentarians, ways of distributing the ministries, division of the elections circles and the rights of the Kuwaiti women.

Press news indicated that a state of frustration prevails the circles of the liberal trend, The rector of the social sciences faculty in Kuwait said that despite the setback which hit the liberals, however, this is compensated, noting that Ali al-Rashid and Basel al-Rahid, of liberal thoughts, have won the elections and that the two men might compensate for the absence of Abdullah al-Neibari, Faisal al-Shaya, Mashari al-Oseimi and Ahmad al-Rubee.

For his part the advisor of the Ummah council ( the parliament) Sami Nasser Khaleifa said that the fight in Kuwait is between two trends "the first includes liberals, Islamic blocs and the people's conservative factions against the second trend which includes the government's factions."