Kuwaitis are going to the polls Thursday to elect the 50 members in the country's outspoken parliament, in what is efforts by the country's ruler to end months of political standoff between the government and parliament.

Voting started at 8 a.m. local time (0500 GMT) and will run till 8 p.m. (1700 GMT) at polling centers across the Gulf Arab emirate.

A total of 286 candidates, including 23 women, were running for the new parliament across the five constituencies, each to be represented by 10 members in the parliament.

Around 400,000 Kuwaitis were registered to vote in the fourth parliamentary election since 2006, the seventh since 1963 when parliament was born in the emirate.

Kuwait bans political parties and all candidates contest individually.

According to the Kuwaiti election law, candidates must be Kuwaiti by birth and must be 30 years of age on the day of election.

Violence erupted on the eve of the general polls as Kuwait's riot police clashed with hundreds of tribesmen who stormed a local television station and tribesmen late Tuesday on Monday torched the election tent of a pro-government candidate over controversial remarks.

Kuwaiti Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah in December dissolved the parliament and called new elections to seek an exit of the deteriorating situations caused by prolonged political infighting between the government and parliament.

The dissolution came after Sheikh Sabah in November appointed Defense Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah as the new prime minister, replacing Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, who stepped down after months of rallies by opposition groups.

Oil-rich Kuwait is the first Gulf Arab state to adopt a constitution in 1962 and elected a parliament the following year. The lawmakers are bestowed the right to question ministers or vote them out of office over irregularities or irresponsibilities.

The al-Sabah family has ruled Kuwait for more than 250 years.