Kuwait Primary (Tribal) Elections 1975-2008: An Evaluative Study

This paper provides a systematic, in-depth evaluation of the Kuwait (tribal) elections, tracing their development since 1975 and studying their impact on the Kuwaiti political system. The first section of the paper sketches a general framework where the concept of primaries is defined, mostly in regards to Kuwait primary elections. Section two of the paper reveals how Kuwait's primary elections are organised and the impact they have on Kuwaiti political systems and section three deals with the merits and disadvantages of these elections. Section four discloses the different measures undertaken to fight this phenomena. Section five discusses the new redistricting law of 2006. In the last section, concluding remarks speculate on the future political development of Kuwaiti primary elections.