Panel rejects ban on primaries

Parliament's interior and defense committee on June 28 rejected a draft law calling to disband all forms of primary elections, the head of the committee said.

Mr. Fahad al-Azemi told reporters that four members attended the meeting, and two voted in favor and the other two against. Azemi said that according to the Assembly internal charter, in case of a tie in voting, the chairman decides.

The draft law was submitted by MPs Mishari al-Osaimi, Abdullah al-Nibari, Abdul Wahab al-Haroun and Dr. Abdulmuhsen al-Mudej. It proposed to declare unlawful all forms of the tribal and sectarian primary elections that normally precede general elections. The bill also stipulates harsh penalties, including jail terms for organizers and participants of such elections.

MP Azemi said that those opposed to the bill pointed out that such elections are not banned by the constitution, and they are held among groups of people with special bonds, which makes it extremely difficult to ban it.

He added that opponents also said that if such elections were officially banned, they could be organized in other forms.

Azemi also said that MPs opposed to the bill stressed that if such elections became ineffective, they would be automatically dropped without the need for legislation.

They insisted that primary elections should be considered as a "legal way of prequalifying candidates."

Primary elections are a common practice, especially among Kuwaiti tribes with the aim of electing one or two candidates from the tribe to fight the general elections so that the tribe's votes are not scattered. Over one third of the members of the current Assembly won their parliamentary seats through primary elections.

The Interior and defense committee has held several meetings during the past several weeks to discuss the issue. At least two of the meetings were attended by speaker Ahmed al-Saadoun and many MPs. Interior minister Sheikh Mohammed al-Khaled al-Sabah attended one of the meetings and told members the government would implement whatever the Assembly decides.

The committee's decision will now be submitted to the national Assembly for a debate and voting.