Almost two months after the parliamentary elections, the Kuwaiti opposition is still reluctant about its next steps. The opposition, led by its Islamist and conservative former parliamentarians, has boycotted the past two elections that took place in December 2012 and July 2013. Before the July elections, Emir Sabah IV Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah scored a victory against the opposition when the Constitutional Court found his amendment of the voting law to be legal and in favor of “national security and the representation of minorities.” He has also succeeded in calming local and international criticism by issuing a pardon for political prisoners at the end of Ramadan.
The opposition is not only besieged by the emir’s tactics, but also isolated by other political players such as liberals, independent Islamists and tribesmen who decided to join the last elections using the court’s decision to legitimize their parliamentary participation. The stances of other political forces have also provoked an internal rift within the opposition, as some of their supporters found the boycott decision a dead end.
