By Lamia Radi - KUWAIT CITY
Kuwait's Shiites, around a third of the native population of the Sunni-ruled emirate, are vying to ensure their votes in Thursday's legislative elections do not serve extremist Sunni candidates, a former minister said Wednesday.
"Naturally, the Shiites want to be represented by Shiite deputies," Ali al-Baghli, former oil minister and a member of the Kuwaiti Association of Human Rights, said.
But if this is not possible, they would prefer to be represented "by liberal Sunnis and not fundamentalists", he said.
"The Salafists (a fundamentalist Sunni current) deny the others their rights and accuse them of apostasy, which is totally in contradiction with the constitution," said Baghli, himself a Shiite and a former MP.
"In constituencies where there are no Shiite candidates, Shiite voters will definitely cast their ballots in favour of liberal, independent and moderate (Sunni) candidates, in order to deprive the Salafists of these votes," he said.
But Baghli underlined "fears of a dispersion of the votes" of his community in districts with a high Shiite density and many Shiite candidates.
"The Shiites do not form one tribe or one current. Some are moderates, while others are extremists. It is not like in tribes, where all votes go to one candidate," he said.
"Votes could thus be scattered between many (Shiite) candidates without ensuring the victory of any of them, serving a Salafist candidate who would also gather the majority of Sunni votes in the district," he added.
In al-Roumaytheya district, 15 kilometers (10 miles) south of the capital, which has a Shiite majority and an influential Sunni minority, there are many Shiite candidates.
In order to avoid wasting Shiite votes, a redistribution of the electoral constituencies is a must, Shiite cleric Sayed Mohammad Baqr al-Mahri said.
"Some Shiite districts are actually included in Sunni constituencies like al-Jabirya, where not a single Shiite was elected in past elections. This should change," he added.
Both Baghli and Mahri believe that Shiites could gain six out of the 50 seats up for grabs on Thursday. The outgoing parliament had five Shiite MPs.
The outgoing government, which should resign on Saturday after the expected announcement of the election results, included two Shiite ministers - Yussef al-Zalzalah (commerce and industry) and Maasouma al-Mubarak (planning).
Mubarak - the first-ever female minister in Kuwait, was appointed a year ago after a historic vote in parliament gave women full political rights.
Zalzalah resigned after the assembly was dissolved in order to be allowed to run as a candidate.
But Shiite MP Hassan Jawhar, a deputy since 1996, totally rejected the idea of fielding one Shiite candidate in certain constituencies in order to guarantee gaining the majority of the community's votes.
"The competition should be equitable. On the contrary, there should be an elimination of sectarianism and division under labels like Shiites, Sunnites, tribes and clans," Jawhar said.
He is running in Hawally - the second-largest constituency with some 20,000 eligible voters - where candidates represent "all currents", he said.
There are 249 hopefuls, including 28 women, vying for the 50 seats in the 11th parliament.
A reduction in the number of constituencies, as demanded by the opposition, "would allow the elimination of divisions because it would reduce the influence of the tribes and clans, as well as the possibility of buying votes", Jawhar said.
"Competence would then be the determining factor," he added.
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