By Hanan Al-Qaysi, KUNA,
Kuwait : Renting residential homes for campaign purposes, across all five constituencies, is a growing phenomenon so far into the 2008 elections, despite the soaring real estate prices in the country.
On this issue, Abdullah Al-Bidah, an agent of one of the homes in the market, told KUNA that A home owner is seeking to lease his house to serve as campaign headquarters for KD 6,000. The home has a strategic location with wide spaces around it which could be put to good use, he indicated.
Meanwhile, a real estate agent said that a candidate rented a house for over KD 10,000, as his campaign headquarters. The real estate office receives many calls from other candidates to rent homes for their campaigns.
KUNA also met with a campaigner in the second constituency, Faisal Mohammad, who said that since the beginning of the NA elections period, two homes were rented to be campaign headquarters for men and women voters.
He added the real estate agent suggested homes of strategic location for the campaign; the rent is estimated at KD 6,000-10,000, he indicated.
Another campaigner in the third constituency, Hamad Al-Ali, said it was hard to find a suitable location for campaign headquarters, clarifying that renting a house is much more advantageous than renting a tent, with air-conditioning, wide spaces around the house, and better services.
On the other hand, a real estate office Manager, Tariq Al-Yaagoub, said that many candidates are seeking homes near schools in which elections polls are to be held. He added a candidate in the third constituency requested renting a house for the last four days of elections only, and was willing to pay KD 2,000-3,000.