The political framework of Kuwait

Political Outline

Current Political Leaders: Emir: Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah (since 30 September 2020)
Prime Minister: Sabah Al-Khalid Al-Sabah (since 19 November 2019)
Next Election Dates: National Assembly: December 5, 2024.
Main Political Parties: The Constitution of Kuwait supports the existence of political parties, although political parties in Kuwait have not been legalized since independence in 1961. Nonetheless, the constitution itself does not prohibit parties. In actual fact, political groupings, such as parliamentary blocs, have been allowed to emerge. These include religious and secular blocs, but most members of parliament are primarily concerned with the interests of their tribe.
Hadas, officially the Islamic Constitutional Movement, is a Kuwaiti Islamist political organization, offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood.

The National Islamic Alliance is another (Shia) political party in Kuwait.
The National Democratic Alliance (Centre right)
Kuwait Democratic Forum (Centre left)
Executive Power: The chief of state is the Emir, a hereditary title. The Emir has absolute executive power including dissolving parliament, promulgating laws, referring bills back to the parliament for reconsideration, and appointing military officers. The Emir appoints the Prime Minister, who acts as the head of the government for an indefinite period of time. The Council of Ministers is appointed by the Prime Minister, after being approved by the Emir. The Emir has the power to dissolve parliament but must call anticipated elections within 60 days.
Legislative Power: The legislative power in Kuwait is unicameral. The parliament, called National Assembly, has 50 members which are elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms and 16 ex-officio members, who are government ministers appointed by the Emir . The parliament has the power to dismiss the Prime Minister or any other members of his cabinet by going through a series of constitutional procedures. The parliament can also override the Emir's veto by a two-third vote.

Indicator of Freedom of the Press

The world rankings, published annually, measures violations of press freedom worldwide. It reflects the degree of freedom enjoyed by journalists, the media and digital citizens of each country and the means used by states to respect and uphold this freedom. Finally, a note and a position are assigned to each country. To compile this index, Reporters Without Borders (RWB) prepared a questionnaire incorporating the main criteria (44 in total) to assess the situation of press freedom in a given country. This questionnaire was sent to partner organisations,150 RWB correspondents, journalists, researchers, jurists and human rights activists. It includes every kind of direct attacks against journalists and digital citizens (murders, imprisonment, assault, threats, etc.) or against the media (censorship, confiscation, searches and harassment etc.).

World Rank:: 105/180

Indicator of Political Freedom

Definition

Definition:

The Indicator of Political Freedom provides an annual evaluation of the state of freedom in a country as experienced by individuals. The survey measures freedom according to two broad categories: political rights and civil liberties. The ratings process is based on a checklist of 10 political rights questions (on Electoral Process, Political Pluralism and Participation, Functioning of Government) and 15 civil liberties questions (on Freedom of Expression, Belief, Associational and Organizational Rights, Rule of Law, Personal Autonomy and Individual Rights). Scores are awarded to each of these questions on a scale of 0 to 4, where a score of 0 represents the smallest degree and 4 the greatest degree of rights or liberties present. The total score awarded to the political rights and civil liberties checklist determines the political rights and civil liberties rating. Each rating of 1 through 7, with 1 representing the highest and 7 the lowest level of freedom, corresponds to a range of total scores.

Ranking:: Partly Free
Political Freedom:: 5/7

Political freedom in the world (interactive map)
Source: Freedom in the World Report, Freedom House

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