Kuwaiti tribes turn parliament to own advantage

Their names read like a list of actors in local history: Adwani, Ajami, Awazim, bani Ghanim Dhafiri, Dusari, Anaizi and Shimmari. They are the tribes of the Arabian peninsula. Once nomads ranging from Yemen to Syria, today the tribes are mainly sedentary. In Kuwait, their dual identity, some claim, leads to dual loyalties that place them in opposition to democracy, national identity and the unity of the state.

In the only Arab democracy in the region, say critics, tribesmen increasingly vote for candidates who have been handpicked to represent the tribe.

“Tribes are no longer a social position. They are a political position,” argues Ebtahal Al-Ahmed, a Kuwaiti political activist and professor at Kuwait University. “They [the tribes] provide their own MPs – Ajami for the Ajami tribe, Mutairi for the Mutairi tribe.”