KUWAIT: The constitutional court, whose rulings are final, is scheduled to issue a number of decisive verdicts that could lead to scrapping the July parliamentary polls for the third time in just 18 months. Unconfirmed reports meanwhile said all Cabinet ministers have tendered their resignations to Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah, who is expected to make the announcement immediately after the court rulings. National Assembly speaker Marzouk Al-Ghanem however said that he has not been informed of any Cabinet or ministers' resignation, a customary practice that happens after the Cabinet resigns. Under the Kuwaiti law, it is HH the Amir who accepts or rejects the resignation of ministers or the Cabinet.
The developments came on the eve of a number of decisive rulings expected to be issued by the constitutional court regarding dozens of challenges to the election results or procedures that threaten to nullify the whole election process. But the two most important rulings relate to two petitions demanding the election process be nullified and for abolishing the single-vote electoral law.
The first petition challenges that procedures to invite Kuwaiti voters to elect a new National Assembly in July had been flawed and breached the constitution, and accordingly the July election should be nullified and the current Assembly scrapped. If the court accepts the petition, it will order scrapping the Assembly for the second time in around six months and for the third in about 18 months.
The second petition challenges that the amendment to the electoral law to cut the number of candidates a Kuwaiti voter can pick from four to just one is unconstitutional and must be scrapped despite a ruling by the court six months ago to uphold the amendment as constitutional. If the court accepts the petition, it will scrap the Assembly, order dissolving the house and call for amending the law.
Observers and legal experts however believe that the chances of the court accepting either of the two challenges is "absolutely slim", although it is not totally ruled out. The same court scrapped the election process in June 2012 and again in June 2013 on the grounds that the procedures that led to the election were flawed and breached the constitution. In both cases, the court nullified the polls, ordered the dissolution of parliament and called for fresh polls. The court is also expected to rule on a number of petitions challenging the results of the election and could disqualify at least two MPs and announce two candidates as new winners.
MP Ali Al-Omair said in a statement yesterday that the arguments used to support the challenges to the election results were not solid. "The parliament's annulment will not be to Kuwait's benefit," he said, adding "I do not believe that there is anything that justifies annulling the parliament for the third straight time". MP Khalil Abdullah warned that the parliament's annulment would result in a "wide boycott" of the next elections.
And as was anticipated, reports on social media and parliamentary sources said all the 15 ministers have tendered their resignations to the prime minister. Some sources said the resignations will be submitted today and officially announced by the government. The resignations were expected to take place to give the prime minister freedom to undertake a Cabinet reshuffle in which he is expected to axe around five ministers who are likely to include State Minister for Development Rola Dashti who is facing a no-confidence vote on Dec 24.
If the ministers resign, the Cabinet will not attend the Dec 24 and 25 sessions of the Assembly, and according the two sessions will be cancelled. The two Assembly sessions two weeks later may not be held too, depending on whether the new Cabinet is formed or not. A number of ministers in the Cabinet have come under fire by MPs who grilled them over alleged corruption and mismanagement. Since the start of the current parliamentary term, about 10 grillings have been filed against the premier and several ministers.
© Kuwait Times 2013
