Kuwaiti govt calls for parliament dissolution

Kuwait’s Cabinet has asked the country’s ruler to consider dissolving Parliament, state news agency KUNA reported yesterday, in a widely expected bid to clear the way for a new election and end months of political deadlock. Kuwait has been unable to hold a parliamentary session for several months after its Constitutional Court effectively dissolved the opposition-dominated assembly which was elected in February, basing its decision on a technicality. The ruling in June reinstated the previous Parliament, originally elected in 2009 and which contained more government supporters, but the body has not been able to convene due to a boycott by lawmakers. “A draft decree to dissolve the 2009 parliament was submitted to the emir ... because it was not possible to hold sessions of the National Assembly due to a lack of quorum,” Information Minister Sheikh Mohammad Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah said, according to KUNA. The 2009 pro-government Parliament was dissolved in December after youth-led street protests and allegations of corruption against some of its members but was reinstated by the constitutional court in a June 20 ruling. Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah is expected to issue a decree dissolving Parliament today which would pave the way to hold fresh elections within 60 days, according to the constitution. Political turmoil has held up a 30 billion dinar ($108 billion) economic development plan and this year’s phase of the project was rejected by opposition deputies in April. The plan is supposed to provide a series of infrastructure projects including a new airport terminal, new oil refinery and hospitals, and was aimed at diversifying the economy and attracting foreign investment. The latest deadlock has frozen parliamentary debate — the 2012 assembly was not even able to approve a budget for the current financial year. The majority opposition bloc pushed two government ministers out of their jobs during that legislature. The government move comes one week after the constitutional court rejected its challenge against the electoral constituency law and ruled that the legislation was in line with the constitution.