Voters in all constituencies of Kuwait place confidence in the democratic process (See translation in Arabic section) Sydney – M E TIMES Int’l: Kuwaiti voters today started to arrive at 8 am in great numbers and continued throughout the day until polling booths closed at 8pm. The enthusiasm of the voters highlighted their hope for the democratic future for the State of Kuwait. Large numbers of voters turned up in all constituencies to choose their representatives in the National Assembly elections for the seventeenth legislative term. Many of the 795,911 eligible voters cast their ballots in the country's five constituencies to elect 50 MPs from the 305 candidates.  Over 80 media personnel from news outlets around the world, including the Middle East Times International, covered the 2022 National Assembly elections. The media personnel were supported by the Ministry of Information with a professionally set up media room. Ministry of Information staff worked closely with the media to ensure a smooth flow in the activities up to and including the election. All foreign media were assigned specialists to assist in their daily activities. This made the process of foreign media much easier to understand the election process. The media center was established to facilitate the tasks of local and foreign reporters on the election day and has provided all logistical capabilities and information about the elections, National Assembly history, women's rights, and the Kuwaiti democratic process. Assistant Undersecretary for Foreign Media Relation and head of the media center covering the 2022 elections, Mazen Al-Ansari, said that the center had provided field visits to polling stations throughout Kuwait to cover the voting process closely on election day. Representative schools from the 123 schools nominated as polling stations were visited by foreign media. The foreign media were given opportunity to witness the polling process with full transparency and see firsthand the enthusiasm of voters. Kuwaiti’s who have reached the age of 21 must bring their citizenship certificate and civil identifications to polling station. This is to ensure that each person only votes once and that the person voting is identified. Preparations for the voting day by the government provided the right environment for voters to perform their national duty. Police forces were deployed to facilitate and simplify the procedures during voting day. The Ministry of Information carried out a comprehensive and detailed coverage through a network of correspondents, five external studios and a central studio for television coverage from 8 am to 8 pm, in addition to (Studio 800) to cover vote counting hub and announcing the results quickly and accurately. In preparation for the election the Kuwait Transparency Society announced that 91 observers will monitor the elections, and to ensure the integrity and transparency process throughout the day. |
