Kuwait: Ex-parliament Runner Jailed For 2 Years Over Vote Buying

A Kuwaiti court had sentenced a former contender in last year’s parliamentary elections and his wife to two years in prison each on charges of vote buying, according to local media.

The Criminal Court also handed down the same sentence to a Kuwaiti woman working for the ex-candidate in the same case, Al Rai newspaper reported.

The court did not announce verdicts for four other female Kuwaitis on the same charges, the report added without giving further details. The convicts’ names were not given.

Last September, Kuwaiti security agencies uncovered a vote-buying scheme set up by a candidate and arrested six citizens involved in the illegal practice.

Security forces also seized KD2,779, 46 envelopes containing 200 dinars each and lists with voters’ names during the raid, media reported.

The Interior Ministry at the time said that the suspects had admitted to canvassing votes in return for money and that the voters would take the oath to vote for the candidate involved before receiving an agreed sum of money.

Kuwait held legislative elections last December. The polls were preceded by a security crackdown on vote buying that has not been uncommon in the country’s election history.

 

SOURCE  GULFNEWS

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