Tens of thousands of protesters in Kuwait City are calling for a boycott of the upcoming election in protest of a constitutional amendment that altered voting rules last month. The grievance is over the annulment of the parliament in June by the Constitutional Court. The parliament represented major gains by the Islamist opposition party and reinstated the previous parliament which was largely allied to the ruling family. Opposition MPs say the amendment manipulates the ballot in favor of pro-government candidates and gives the government greater influence over the outcome of the ballot. The opposition coalition went so far as to state it will not participate in the upcoming election and considers the reinstated parliament illegitimate. “The only thing certain is that we are not going to back down,” said Mohammed Qassem, a leader of the election boycott movement.
