KUWAIT: The constitutional court yesterday rejected a government petition against the electoral constituency law, affirming that the law was in line with the constitution and must remain as the basis for the forthcoming elections. "The petition is rejected," declared head of the constitutional court Judge Faisal Al-Mershed in a session that lasted less than a minute, in reference to a petition filed by the government last month challenging that two articles of the law were unconstitutional. Dozens of opposition activists who along with lawyers and journalists packed the small courtroom welcomed the ruling and began congratulating each other. The process continued outside the courtroom as leading opposition MP Musallam Al-Barrak walked down the Palace of Justice corridor, congratulated by activists.
The ruling was issued amid unprecedented tight security measures in which dozens of special forces and policemen, backed by armored vehicles, cordoned off the car park adjacent to the Palace of Justice amid expectations that opposition activists planned to demonstrate. Opposition figures and MPs welcomed the court ruling and called on the government to immediately dissolve the 2009 Assembly, reinstated in a landmark verdict by the same court in June, and hold fresh elections on the basis of the affirmed constituency law. Some opposition figures even called for the government to resign and others demanded penalizing the government "that cannot be trusted to run the affairs of the country".
Following an extraordinary meeting after the court verdict, the Cabinet welcomed the ruling and said it will respect it. The Cabinet also said it has instructed all concerned departments to study the verdict in order to implement it. The Cabinet's statement made no reference to any specific measures that may include a recommendation to HH the Amir to dissolve the 2009 Assembly and call for fresh polls.
In its petition last month, the government stressed that the first two articles of the constituency law - one dividing the country into five electoral constituencies and the second allowing voters to elect a maximum of four candidates in their respective districts - were in breach of the constitution. The court ruling quashed the petition, saying that the two articles did not violate the constitution and that they did not breach social justice or equality in the society.
The electoral constituency law was passed in 2006 following protests by the opposition calling for reforms to the election process. It first cut the number of electoral constituencies from 25 to just 5 with each electing 10 MPs, and allowed voters to cast four votes each. The government said in its petition that the law is unconstitutional because the number of voters in each constituency varies considerably, but the court threw out this pretext.
The ruling means that the electoral constituency law will remain for at least one more election and only the next Assembly can debate amending it. The verdict is also expected to defuse political tension which rose in the past several months, especially after the constitutional court ruling scrapping the February general election results. But tension may rise further and protests could expand if the government refuses to dissolve the 2009 Assembly as demanded by the opposition.
Barrak said the government must immediately dissolve the Assembly of "shame", a reference to the 2009 Assembly in which at least 13 of its 50 members are accused of receiving millions of dinars in political bribes. Barrak also stressed that the government must be "politically punished" for its action and because it cannot be trusted to run the affairs of the country. Opposition Islamist MP said the ruling requires the government to resign because it stalled the country for several months. He called for dissolving the 2009 Assembly and holding fresh polls.
The Islamic Constitutional Movement, the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, welcomed the verdict and urged the government to swiftly dissolve the 2009 Assembly and hold fresh polls. Opposition MP Khaled Al-Tahous said that despite the ruling, the opposition will continue to press for a constitutional monarchy and elected government. The verdict came a day after more than 10,000 opposition supporters rallied against the government opposite the National Assembly building as speakers warned that the opposition could resort to street protests if the court declared the constituency law illegal. More than 50 youth activists camped all night at the rally site in anticipation of the ruling.
"The constitutional ruling today means that the government should resign immediately," Islamist MP Faisal Al-Mislem wrote on Twitter, calling for new parliamentary elections. "This is a triumph of the will of the nation," Islamist MP Waleed Al-Tabtabaei said in a message to almost a quarter of a million followers on Twitter. Along with other members of the opposition, he has been calling for an elected government.
"The government's position has been partially compromised but this is unlikely to be a major event for the prime minister or the ruling family," said Ayham Kamel, a Middle East analyst at Eurasia Group. The decision puts pressure on the government but also on the opposition, according to Kristian Ulrichsen, research fellow on Gulf States at the London School of Economics. "They will need to show the electorate that they have a viable way out of the impasse, rather than the rash of populist initiatives they focused on in the last parliament," he said.
During their few months in power before parliament was dissolved, members of the opposition tried to pass legislation such as introducing the death penalty for blasphemy. "Their focus was on anti-corruption legislation and on settling political scores," a Kuwait-based diplomat said. In April the parliament rejected a draft bill on the country's KD 30 billion ($108 billion) development plan as opposition deputies accused the government of failing to make progress on major investments envisaged. The plan, spread over four years until 2014, provides for a series of huge infrastructure projects including a new airport terminal, new oil refinery and hospitals and is aimed at diversifying the economy and attracting foreign investment. Details must be voted on each year and in April parliamentarians turned down the part of the plan for the 2012-2013 fiscal year.
© Kuwait Times 2012
