KUWAIT: Speculations are heating up few days ahead of election day about which of the current candidates could possibly be eyeing the speaker post in the upcoming parliament. On that regard, a report published by Al-Qabas yesterday suggests based on observations that competition for the post is likely going to be exclusive to four candidates: Ahmad Al-Saadoun, Mohammad Al-Saqr, Abdullah Al-Roumi and Ali Al-Rashid - all of whom are former lawmakers.
Ever since former speaker Jassem Al-Khorafi announced he is not contesting in the upcoming elections, many people place former three-time speaker Al-Saadoun as frontrunner to the post. The opposition figurehead himself did not hide in an earlier report his intentions to run for speakership if elected "against whoever is supported by the Cabinet", but added that he would shun away from the post if the 50 elected MPs agree on a single candidate.
Al-Saadoun still indicated in his statements that the speaker's post isn't his top priority. He assured he is focused on "saving Kuwait from widespread corruption". Al-Saadoun's main opponent for speakership is widely speculated to be Mohammad Al-Saqr, who responded when previously asked about the matter that it is too early to talk about it now when elections are yet to take place.
Similar statements were mentioned by former Deputy Speaker Abdullah Al-Roumi, who is considered to be the third potential runner up to the speaker's post. In recent statements to Al-Rai daily, the former MP said that his decision will be determined after elections.
Former MP and minister Ali Al-Rashid said when asked about the subject that he didn't even start thinking about running for speakership, yet he didn't rule out the possibility of running when he said 'everything at its time'. The cautious answers given by the likely frontrunners to the speakership post is not surprising to many observers especially that it would rather be considered illogical for any candidate to officially announce they are running for the post when they can't even assure they are going to be elected in the first place.
In the meantime, the Al-Qabas report mentions information indicating that the Cabinet is likely going to give its sixteen members freedom to vote for whoever they prefer during the voting process for the speaker's post, unlike previous terms when the government unanimously voted in favor of Al-Khorafi.
In other news, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is reportedly falling under pressure to stop support to second constituency candidate Abdurrahman Al-Anjari. NDA now threatens the former MP's chances of reelection should he lose the liberal group's support.
A report by Annahar quoting a source within the NDA with knowledge of the subject cited "severe disputes" between the two sides as the reason behind the recent development. Moreover, the anonymous source notes that that former MP Meshari Al-Anjari tried to mediate between in order to eliminate the rift between Abdurrahman Al-Anjari and the NDA, but his attempts so far went to no avail. The report also hints that the NDA is still weighing options on whether to support second constituency candidate Dr. Mohammad Al-Abduljader, adding that their decision is likely to be based on how effective the support would be to increasing chances of their own candidates to win the elections, reported Annahar.
© Kuwait Times 2012
