The country is holding the 10th parliament by-elections in the history of the Kuwaiti National Assembly this Thursday, where voters in the second, third, and fourth constituencies are to name five representatives.
This comes after the resignation of five MPs; Riad Al-Adsani, Abdulkarim Al-Kanderi, Hussein Al-Quwaiaan, Ali Al-Rashed, and Safaa Al-Hashem.
Article 84 of the Kuwaiti Constitution states, "If, for any reason, a seat in the National Assembly becomes vacant before the end of the term, the vacancy is filled by election within two months from the date on which the Assembly declares the vacancy. The mandate of the new member lasts until the end of that of his predecessor." The first incident of vacancy within the parliament was in October 27, 1964 when Sulaiman Al-Haddad presented his resignation. The election to fill his vacated seat took place December 23 that same year. The seat in the sixth constituency went to Ali Abdulrahman Al-Omar.
On December 7 the following year, 1965, eight MPs resigned in protest over issue of laws they deemed in violations of freedoms. They were Ahmad Al-Khatib, Jassem Al-Qitami, Rashed Al-Tawhid, Sami Al-Menayyes, Sulaiman Al-Mutawaa, Abdelrazzaq Al-Khalid, Ali Al-Omar, and Yaqoub Al-Humaidhi.
The second by-elections were thus held on February 9, 1966, and the new MPs were Ahmad Al-Abdeljeleel, Nayef Al-Khulaifi, Rashed Al-Hajri, Sulaiman Al-Thuwayyikh, Abdelaziz Al-Mesaeed, Ghannam Al-Jamhoor, Mohammad Al-Wazzan, and Nasser Al-Meeili.
The third by-elections were held on October 29, 1966 following resignation of Mudhi Al-Nazzal, and the seat went to Khaled Al-Meeseb.
The year 1967 saw the resignation of seven MPs; Khaled Al-Fuhaid, Rashed Al-Farhan, Abdelrazzaq Al-Zeid, Abdelaziz Al-Saqer, Ali Al-Omar, Mohammad Al-Kharafi, and Mohammad Al-Adsani. The following by-elections took place on May 10, 1967. The new MPs were Ibrahim Al-Mailam, Ahmad Al-Abdeljeleel, Ahmad Al-Khulaifi, Khaled Al-Tahoos, Khalaf Al-Otaibi, Rashed Ismail, and Ghanem Al-Amiri.
The death of MP Ali Al-Uthaina in the ninth constituency, before start of term, lead to declaration of vacancy of his seat in December 11, 1971, and by-elections were held on February 9, 1972. The new MP was Faleh Al-Suwaileh who served as of start of legislative term.
By-elections were held in the 14th constituency on April 7, 1982 following the death of Naser Al-Esaimi, and the new MP was Humoud Al-Jabri.
December 29, 1992 saw a legal case resulting in the re-holding of election in the 14th and 16th constituencies, in a precedent for the Kuwaiti National Assembly. MPs Mubarak Al-Khurainej and Humoud Al-Jabri, whose seats were contested, won again in the by-elections and maintained their seats.
The eighth by-elections came in 1997 when Saadoun Al-Etaibi obtained a Constitutional Court ruling calling the elections in the 21st constituency void and null, and the contested seats were again won on February 19 by the same MPs; Walid Al-Jeri and Khaled Al-Adwa.
The last time by-elections were held was on January 24, 2000, when the Constitutional Court ruled in favor of Khaled Al-Adwa's plea to annul results of elections in the 21st constituency. The by-elections saw Al-Adwa winning the seat which was denied Saadoun Al-Etaibi, virtue of said court ruling.