Kuwaiti polls open amid boycott

Polls open in Kuwait.

But these parliamentary elections take place amid an opposition boycott and street protests.

Some 423,000 Kuwaitis are eligible to cast ballots.

That includes women who only gained the right to vote in 2005.

Opposition forces in the Gulf Arab state had secured around two thirds of the National Assembly in February elections.

But the parliament was dissolved in June.

This time around, opposition candidates are not standing because of a change in voting rules ordered by the emir, whose family has ruled for 250 years.

On Friday, tens of thousands of Kuwaiti activists demonstrated, urging people not to vote in protest.

The electoral change reduces votes per citizen from four to one.

The opposition, a disparate collection of Islamists, liberals and populist politicians, argue removing the additional ballots makes it more difficult for them to form alliances.