Voting begins in Kuwait election Kuwaitis took to the polls on Thursday in a parliamentary election that could see a loose opposition of Islamists, tribesmen and liberals take a majority. The vote will be an important gauge of public sentiment following a corruption scandal that fuelled unprecedented protests and the resignation of the prime minister and his cabinet last November. The mood in the Gulf country, which is home to the region's longest-running experiment in indigenous constitutional democracy, appeared heated in the run-up to the polls. Hostilities, while mild compared with the blood-letting seen in much of the Arab world over the last year, have shocked some. "The level of mud-slinging going on is really dismaying all of us," said Abdullah al-Shayji, chairman of the political science department at Kuwait University. The pains of Kuwaiti democracy will continue to linger on. In the lead-up to today's elections, tribesmen have been at loggerheads with those considered their "urban" opponents, swearing and insulting their families and prompting fights and an attack on a local TV station. The candidates have been accused of deliberately stoking tribal divisions to create instability. Cars lined the streets next to the Sabah al-Salem polling station, in one of the tribal areas. "The tribes are the opposition, so they are the best," said one voter who gave his name as Abu Hamed. The confrontations had many concerned. "The tribal-urban tensions rose dramatically, this is dangerous for Kuwait," said Mohammed al-Subaie, a government employee. If one spark starts, it can burn the country. So far the election day remained peaceful. Men, young and old, gathered at a polling station in Kaifan, an upper-middle class area of Kuwait City. Islamists are expected to do well at the spot, where Waleed Tatabai, one of the most popular Islamist candidates, waited and greeted voters. Mr Tatabai expected the loosely allied opposition candidates to perform well. "We are hopeful we're going to get more than 25 MPs and this will give us leverage over the government," he said. At the same polling station, Abdulrahman al-Ghaith, a 23-year-old accountancy student, said "democracy and freedom" were the key points he was hoping for with his vote, as he twirled prayer beads in one hand. Even old men, one with a medical drip, were wheeled into the station, as every vote was deemed precious. Fayez Hamed al-Riash, a university lecturer, positioned himself at the door to the polling station, lobbying others to use one of their four votes for the wife of his sister, Nabila al-Anjari, an independent candidate, who was not part of the previous parliament. Mr Riash planned on making deals with neighbours and anyone else he knew that walked through the station. "If we work together," he said, "we will win."