- Kuwait is an Arab country in Western Asia. Situated in the northeastern edge of the Arabian peninsula, at the tip of the Persian Gulf. It shares borders with Iraq to the north and Saudi Arabia to the south.
- Kuwait is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system of government. Constitutional monarchy is a form of democratic government in which a monarch acts as a non political head of state within the boundaries of a constitution, whether written or unwritten.
- Emirs (meaning ‘commanders’ or ‘prince’) are the rulers of Kuwait. The House of Al-Sabah dynasty came to partial power in 1718, before which date the Bani Khalid tribe ruled the region.
- Its constitution was issued in 1962. The Kuwaiti parliament (per article 3 of the Constitution) has the constitutional right to approve and disapprove of an Emir’s appointment; therefore the parliament has the authority to remove an Emir from his post. The parliament effectively removed Saad al-Sabah from his post in 2006 due to his illness.
- The Constitution expressly supports political organizations, but they remain illegal as no law has arisen to define and regulate them. MPs tend to serve as Independents or as members of some loose affiliation or faction based on philosophy, sect, class or clan.
- Citizens, who have reached the age of 21 years, are not in the military and have not been convicted of a crime, can vote. Parliamentary candidates must be eligible to vote and at least 30 years old.
- The National Assembly consists of fifty elected members chosen in elections held every four years. Government ministers are also granted membership in the parliament and can number up to sixteen excluding the fifty elected members.
- According to the Constitution of Kuwait, nomination of a new Emir or Crown Prince by the Al-Sabah monarchy has to be approved by the National Assembly. Any amendment to the constitution can be proposed by the Emir but it needs to be approved by more than two-thirds of the members of the National Assembly before being implemented.