Middle East

Kuwait Bars Naturalised Citizens From Voting and Running for Office

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Courtroom-sketch editorial illustration of Kuwait's Emir Sheikh Meshal al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah in traditional dress raising both open hands as he speaks, rendered in warm ochre and slate-blue pastel strokes.

Kuwait's emir issued Decree-Law No. 79 of 2026, amending the 1959 Nationality Law to bar anyone who acquired Kuwaiti citizenship through naturalisation from voting, standing for election, or being appointed to any representative body. Naturalised Kuwaitis had previously been allowed to vote 30 years after acquiring nationality, though they were already barred from running or being appointed. The decree, countersigned by First Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Abdullah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, also replaces paper nationality certificates with electronic ones and widens the grounds for stripping citizenship from people who add non-relatives to their citizenship files. It takes effect on publication in the Official Gazette.

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