The first convention of the general congress of the National Alliance took place in Kuwait. The National Alliance is not a political party since there are no official parties in Kuwait. It is, rather, an unofficial interest group such as similar groups of Bedouins, Sunni and Shi’i activists, tradespeople, liberals and nationalists. This is the first political gathering of its sort in which politicians from the liberal stream took part, according to the London based daily newspaper “A-Sharq Al-Awsat”.
The convention mainly discussed the report of the preliminary committee of the National Alliance, its manifesto, and elected members of the office for organizing and coordination, who will head the National Alliance for the time being.
One of the members of the preliminary committee explained that the purpose of the meeting was to “strategize towards the upcoming elections for the national assembly.” He added that the aim of the convention was to introduce as many liberal candidates as possible to the national assembly. It is worth noting that two of the thirteen members of the preliminary committee are women. This is of particular interest because in Kuwait, women cannot vote, or be elected to the National Assembly.
During the last elections, which took place in 1999, representatives of three streams were chosen for national assembly: supporters of the government, Islamists, and the liberalists who presented an anti-governmental approach. All three streams had nearly an equal number of representatives. This national assembly did not last because in May 1999, the Amir of Kuwait – as he had done several times before – disbanded the Assembly. The reason given was the so-called harsh disagreements among its members.
It now remains to be seen what will become of the next National Assembly, which will be elected in June 2003. Time will tell if the anti-governmental liberalist movement will gain power, and if it will gain enough public support in order to pose a real challenge to the Kuwaiti regime.