JUNE 2 MUNICIPAL COUNCIL ELECTIONS TO MARK

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 KUWAIT 002416

SIPDIS

STATE FOR NEA/ARPI

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/30/2015
TAGS: PHUM PGOV KWMN EIND KU WOMEN POLITICAL RIGHTS
SUBJECT: JUNE 2 MUNICIPAL COUNCIL ELECTIONS TO MARK
REEMERGENCE OF INFLUENTIAL BODY; HIGHLIGHT PAST CORRUPTION

REF: A. KUWAIT 1836

B. KUWAIT 1808

C. KUWAIT 1633

D. KUWAIT 1401

E. 04 KUWAIT 4219

Classified By: Ambassador Richard LeBaron for reason 1.4 (d).


1. (SBU) Summary: The Kuwaiti Municipal Council (Al Majlis Al
Baladi) is an influential governing body that retains great
authority on important issues such as construction projects,
economic development, and commercial planning. Despite its
"municipal" name, the Council's jurisdiction is national.
Elections for the 16-member Council are scheduled for June 2,
during which an all-male electorate will select ten members
for the first Council since 1999. The Council has been in a
caretaker status since 2003 when the 1999 Council concluded
its four year term of service. The Cabinet decided to delay
elections, originally scheduled for 2003, because of its
desire to first pass legislation on women's political rights
and new laws restricting the authority of the Municipal
Council. While the previous Council accomplished many
objectives including approving the Boubyan Island and Failaka
development projects and initiating the Shuwaikh Free-Trade
Zone, there were frequent accusations of administrative
corruption and inefficiency, including accusations by a
former Council member. Municipal candidate campaign
platforms are primarily focused on combating corruption,
community beautification, reducing pollution, and solving
traffic problems. Although Kuwaiti women recently gained
their full political rights, they cannot participate in this
election because the election date was set before the May 16
suffrage decision and there is no provision to register new
voters; they will be able to participate in the 2009
municipal elections. The GOK appoints six Council members,
some of whom are expected to be women. End Summary.

The June 2 Election and Candidate Campaigns
--------------


2. (U) There are 54 candidates running for ten open seats in
the June 2 Municipal Council elections. The Council is
composed of 16 members, ten of whom are elected, with the
remaining six appointed by the GOK. Elections are held every
four years and every seat is open at election time. Women
are not permitted to participate in this election; however,
it is possible that at least one -- some speculate as many as
three -- will be appointed by the GOK. Because of the
technical nature of much of the Council's work, past
appointed members often had professional backgrounds in
engineering or other mechanical fields. (Note: Women gained
the right to vote and run for office in national-level
political elections in May and will be eligible to
participate in the 2009 Municipal Council elections. Women
will not participate in this year's elections because the
municipal election date was set before women gained their
rights and there was no provision to register new voters
before the June 2 balloting. End Note.)


3. (U) The Council members represent ten constituencies --
one candidate elected to the Council from each -- and all
Kuwaitis registered to vote for members of the National
Assembly (approximately 137,000 men) are automatically
eligible to vote in Municipal Council elections. The ten
municipal constituencies comprise much larger population
centers than the 25 districts used for Parliamentary
elections and because there are only ten, candidates need
more votes and a wider level of public support to be elected
to the Municipal Council than to Parliament. (Comment: If
total voter turnout is 73 percent -- equivalent to the
turnout in the 2003 National Assembly elections -- and the
election race in each district is very close, a municipal
candidate would have to receive an average minimum of 2,200
votes to win a seat on the Municipal Council. The average
number of votes garnered by a victorious candidate in the
2003 National Assembly elections was 1,800. Six MPs were
elected to Parliament in 2003 on less than 1,000 votes each
and only 16 out of the 50 current MPs received more than
2,000 votes. End Comment.)


4. (U) The campaigns, in their final week, are in full swing
as banners and bumper stickers can be seen throughout Kuwait
and roadside signs are plastered along almost every mile of
road -- some with the face of the same smiling candidate have
been placed every 20 feet for miles. Ahmed Al-Shimmari, a
candidate whose constituency comprises much of downtown
Kuwait City, publicly announced that his campaign centers on
the beautification of the capital city. A candidate running
in the rural western municipal district that includes Jahra,
Sulaibikhat, Doha, and Amghara, Askar Al-Enezi, complained
that his district lacked adequate public health, shopping,
and recreational facilities and vowed to combat pollution.
Other popular campaign issues are fighting administrative
corruption, solving traffic problems, and combating
"inefficiency."


5. (U) Although they are not eligible to vote, several women
weighed in publicly with their concerns and the issues they
would like to see addressed by the new Municipal Council.
Among those issues highlighted were reducing administrative
violations and corruption, protecting the environment,
reducing traffic congestion, and addressing the housing
shortage.

Council Corruption Blamed For Lack Of Progress In Kuwait
-------------- --------------


6. (C) Because of its role in approving construction and
development contracts, the Municipal Council is popularly
believed to be corrupt. Three-time Municipal Council member
and current candidate Khalifa Al-Khorafi, cousin of
Parliament Speaker Jassem Al-Khorafi, told PolOff there is a
great deal of corruption in the Municipal Council. He said
there is no excuse for Kuwait not to be as modern and
developed as Dubai because it has both the necessary legal
framework and the money to develop. He said the corruption,
which he characterized as playing a larger role in the
Council's work "than most even hear about," is easy to see.
When you see an area that appears poorly maintained, he
explained, it is clear corruption exists there because the
Municipality has the resources to change it.


7. (C) Al-Khorafi referred to "legal corruption" as one of
the biggest problems. He described this as when the Council
openly approves contracts or accepts bids for projects to
favor individuals or their companies, at the expense of
productivity and efficiency. He offered as an example an
occasion where three companies were competing for a contract
and the contract was awarded by the Council to all three. He
said this is not only inefficient but also "bad for Kuwait."
He further complained that when the questionable proposal
reached the Council of Ministers for final approval,
accompanied by a written objection from him, it was approved
with the help of Minister of State for Cabinet and
Parliamentary Affairs Mohammed Dhaifallah Sharar, who oversaw
the Council and whom he characterized as very corrupt.
(Note: Minister Sharar was grilled in the National Assembly
in December 2004 on charges of corruption. Most of the
relevant and damaging charges against him involved contracts
and salaries with the Municipality (ref D). End Note.)
Khalifa pointed out that Prime Minister Shaykh Sabah Al-Ahmad
Al-Sabah reportedly mentioned corruption in the Municipal
Council saying "convoys of camels couldn't carry the mistakes
and corrupt profits coming from the Municipal Council."
Because of the necessary role of the Council of Ministers in
approving all municipality projects, Khalifa commented, "it
was PM Shaykh Sabah who loaded those camels." Al-Khorafi,
who must garner more votes to be elected to the Council than
to Parliament, said that although he would have a good chance
of being elected to the National Assembly, he prefers to
continue pursuing a seat on the Council because he believes
he can wield more power there to help Kuwaitis than anywhere
else in the Government.

An Overview of the Council
--------------


8. (U) Established in 1932, the Municipal Council is a
governing body that addresses societal and commercial issues
that are below the visibility of the National Assembly, but
require more oversight and national supervision than the
local Cooperative Societies provide. (Note: Kuwait's
ubiquitous Cooperative Societies (co-ops),which are located
in each neighborhood throughout Kuwait, are chains of
businesses that offer community services and shopping options
such as grocery stores, fast food restaurants, and sports
stores. Co-ops are governed by an elected board and
shareholders, who are typically neighborhood residents, and
their input shapes what services and jobs are available in a
given community. End Note.)


9. (U) The Municipality assists in both public and private
sector activities. It manages issues in the public's
interest to include public planning, surveying and zoning,
environmental affairs, construction and development projects.
It also handles matters of public safety, street
construction, public landscaping, maintenance of historical
buildings, issuance of commercial licenses and
advertisements, and supervision of graveyards and burials.
All projects and contracts approved by the Municipal Council
must also be approved by the Council of Ministers before
becoming legally binding.


10. (U) The 16 members sit as an entire Council every other
Monday. Although the Municipal Council meets to conduct
official business in downtown Kuwait City, each of the six
governorates has a municipality center and each town within
the municipality has a local office. The 1999 Council, the
last elected, concluded its service in 2003, after which a
caretaker Municipal Affairs Committee was formed to serve
until new elections, scheduled for June 2, were held. An
Amiri decree issued April 11, 2005 appointed Justice Minister
Ahmed Baqer as Minister of State for Municipal Affairs
replacing Sharar.


11. (SBU) A new law governing the activities of the Kuwait
Municipalities was issued in March. The long wait for this
bill's passage contributed to the two-year delay in new
elections. The law is more restrictive of the Municipal
Council's authority and provides more oversight of the
Council and its chairman. The Municipal Council previously
had the authority to pass commercial and construction
proposals that had been rejected by the Council of Ministers
with a 2/3 majority vote. One candidate and long-time
employee of the Municipality lamented the loss of this
authority, calling it the "beating heart" of the Council.
The new law also reduced the authority of the Municipal
Council chairman. The Council chairman, who in the past was
dual-hatted as chairman and as the head of the Municipality,
has lost this latter portfolio which oversees personnel and
employment issues throughout the Municipality. Baqer, as the
the Minister of State for Municipal Affairs, is now the
designated head of the Municipality. Baqer has also been
given the authority to reject single Municipal Council
proposals without holding up all other submissions; in the
past all proposals had to be approved or rejected en masse by
the Council of Ministers.

The 1999 Council
--------------


12. (U) The most recent municipal election took place in June

1999. There were 58 candidates for the ten available seats
in the ten different constituencies. Tribal candidates won
six of the seats and the press claimed that vote-buying took
place and may have influenced some of the election outcomes.
After the dissolution of the Council at the end of its term
of service in 2003, new elections were postponed for two
years by the Council of Ministers due to delays in efforts to
secure women's political rights and passing the legislation
reforming municipality activities.


13. (U) Beyond addressing issues of importance to the local
districts, the 1999 Council approved the requirements for the
Failaka Island development project, approved the Boubyan
Island development project, developed the western
agricultural area, approved the Shuwaikh Free-Trade Zone
structure, and allocated a second headquarters for the Kuwait
Stock Exchange.

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LEBARON