Kuwaitis vote to elect 50-member parliament

KUWAIT

Kuwaitis on Saturday headed to polls to elect members of the parliament amid anti-coronavirus measures.

A total of 567,694 Kuwaitis are eligible to vote in five districts, where 326 candidates, including 28 women, are running for the 50-member National Assembly.

The polls will remain open until 8:00 p.m. local time (1700GMT) and the vote count will start after that. However, the voting turnout is expected to be low due to the pandemic.

Strict anti-coronavirus measures have been taken on the polling day and the Health Ministry has allocated five polling stations for the coronavirus-infected voters.

The Kuwaiti National Assembly enjoys oversight authority where any member of the assembly could question the prime minister or any minister and they could also initiate a no-confidence vote against any minister.

The elections are first after the death of Kuwait's Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah in September.

* Ahmed Asmar contributed to this report from Ankara