• Home
• Kuwait
• News Article

Feb 13 2012

more articles from

Assembly opening may be postponed to Sunday

Three blocs forward six conditions to PM
KUWAIT CITY: The procedure for the formation of a new government looks to have entered a dark tunnel due to the uncompromising and rigid stands adopted by a majority of lawmakers who are hell bent on controlling the Council of Ministers, especially the defence and interior ministries.

A reliable source said the MPs are determined to dictate terms which are difficult for Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah to accept and execute. So this has opened the door for any possibility. This means we are about to witness another tug-of-war between the legislative and the executive authorities.

The situation may lead to an early dissolution of the Parliament faster than people had anticipated.

Furthermore, this may lead to the postponement of the inaugural session of the National Assembly which was to take place Wednesday, Feb 15, 2012 until Sunday, Feb 19, 2012.

Consultations
The same source said consultations continue with several parliamentary blocs for them to tone down their demands for participation in the government.

However, constitutional experts including Dr Isham Al-Saleh have affirmed that postponement of the inauguration of the opening session of the Parliament will violate Article 87 of the Constitution which stipulates, 'Notwithstanding the provisions of the preceding two Articles the Amir shall summon the National Assembly to hold its first meeting within two weeks of the end of the general election. If the decree of convocation is not issued within the said period, the Assembly shall be deemed to have been convoked for the morning of the day following these two weeks, due regard being given to the relevant provision of the preceding Article.

'If the date of the meeting of the Assembly falls after the annual date mentioned in Article 86 of the Constitution, the term of the session specified in Article 85 shall be reduced by the difference between the said two dates.'

Three separate meetings were held by the MPs-elect at the Diwaniya of Hamad Al-Matar in the afternoon, in the evening at the Diwaniya of Ahmed Al-Saadoun and in the night at the Diwaniya of Faisal Al-Muslim. A total of 13 MPs participated in the meetings.

All those meetings were to discuss participation in the new government. A majority of the members belonging to the Popular Labor bloc, the ICM and the Salafist put forward six conditions to the Prime Minister.

Conditions
The conditions are: the three blocs must be given nine ministerial portfolios with three ministries for each bloc, withdrawal of the case filed over storming of the National Assembly, government should maintain complete neutrality in the nomination of the National Assembly Speaker, government should given an undertaking to support the amendment of Article II of the Constitution, the Ministry of Oil should either be given to the Salafist or the ICM and the government should not include the National Democratic Alliance and other liberals in the formation of the government.

This is in addition to an undertaking to support the program prepared by the majority alliance which includes amendments of some aspects of the Constitution and the 17 bills.

According to rumors and reasons that former MP Mishari Al-Anjari has rejected a ministerial portfolio, the source said one of the reasons is that there was immense pressure from some members of the ruling family and notable personalities to drop Anjari from the Cabinet list.

The reason being they felt the position of the First Deputy Premier should be reserved for a member of the ruling family while it is possible that the Prime Minister will be elected should Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak decide to opt out to head the government.

The MPs attended the meetings at the Diwaniyas have agreed to tow the government line by implementing the Constitution beginning with the implementation of real development projects and stoppage of all former excesses.