Tag Archives: Study in Kuwait

(Dawlat al-Kuwayt). State of Southwest Asia (17,818 km²). Capital: Al-Kuwayt. Administrative division: governorates (6). Population: 2,640,000 residents (2008). Language: Arabic. Religion: Muslims (Sunni 59%, Shia 15%), Hindus 10%, Catholics 9%, Buddhists 3%, others 4%. Currency unit: Kuwaiti dinar (1000 fils). Human Development Index: 0.912 (29th place). Borders: Iraq (N and NW), Persian Gulf (E), Saudi Arabia (S and SW). Member of: GCC, Arab League, OCI, UN, OPEC and WTO. According to COUNTRYAAH, Kuwait is a nation in Western Asia, the capital city of which is Kuwait City. The latest population of Kuwait is 4,270,582. ACEINLAND: Lists and descriptions of main religions and beliefs in Kuwait, including religion demographics and statistics on Christianity, Islam, Judaism, etc.
After the death of Sheikh Jabir al-Ahmad Al-Sabah on January 15, 2006, the parliament declared the constitutional successor Sheikh Saad al-Abdullah Al-Sabah (* 1930, † 2008; since 1978 crown prince, 1978-2003 prime minister) because of his poor health for incapacitation; instead, the previous head of government was Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad Al-SabahEmir. This dissolved parliament in May 2006 after a dispute with the government over reducing the number of electoral districts. In the new elections in June 2006, the parliamentary opposition, consisting of liberals and Islamists, won 33 of the 50 seats, 21 of which were held by the Islamists. In the period that followed, disputes between the executive and the opposition-dominated legislature put a strain on the domestic political climate, so that new elections were held on May 17, 2008. The Islamists were able to win 24 mandates (21 of them to Sunni Islamists). Due to an ongoing dispute over corruption between some parliamentarians and the government, the emir again dissolved parliament prematurely in 2009. In the elections on May 16, 2009, the Sunni Islamists lost 10 of their previous 21 seats;

From mid-February 2011 it came as part of the Arab Spring also in Kuwait on illegal demonstrations. The police used tear gas against the demonstrators, but were unable to prevent more than 10,000 people from demonstrating in May, September and October 2011. They demanded the resignation of the prime minister, more political freedoms and an end to corruption. In November 2011, demonstrators stormed parliament to back up their calls for the prime minister to resign. On November 28, 2011, the government finally resigned. As a result of these events, the emir dissolved parliament on December 6, 2011. In the new elections on February 2, 2012, the opposition, led by the Sunni Islamists, won 34 out of 50 seats. On June 20, 2012, the Constitutional Court declared the election invalid, which means that the old, Parliament, dominated by supporters of the ruling family, was reinstated. In October 2012, the emir dissolved parliament and issued a new right to vote (each voter can only cast one vote per candidate instead of the previous four). There was increasing dissatisfaction among the population against this approach, and there were large-scale demonstrations. On December 1, 2012, early elections took place again, which were largely boycotted by the opposition forces. On June 16, 2013, the Constitutional Court confirmed the new electoral law, but ordered new elections, which were held on July 27, 2013. The opposition forces had again called for an election boycott. The Shiite minority has lost several seats since the last election. There were also protests against voting rights in 2014. From the end of March 2015, Kuwait participated in the Saudi Arabia-led military alliance against the Houthi movement in Yemen and made warplanes available for this purpose. On June 26, 2015, a suicide bomber blew himself up in a Shiite mosque in the capital Kuwait, killing at least 27 believers and injuring well over 200 people. The Islamic State (IS) terrorist militia committed itself to the crime. After tensions between the MPs and the government, the emir dissolved parliament on October 16, 2016 in order to call for new elections. Members of parliament had previously requested that ministers be questioned about alleged violations of the law. In the parliamentary elections on November 26, 2016, members of the opposition who had boycotted the two previous elections won numerous seats.