KUWAIT CITY – Kuwait Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah Sunday issued a decree dissolving the 2009 parliament, just over three months since it was reinstated by the constitutional court. “The Emir issued a decree to dissolve parliament,” news agency KUNA said, citing Information Minister Sheikh Mohammad Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah, who handles cabinet affairs. Former opposition MPs welcomed the move but urged for another decree to set the date for snap general election. Elections now need to be held within 60 days under constitutional rules. A second decree setting the date for new elections is expected to be issued soon. The last parliamentary elections were held in February. The opposition assigned a legal team to prepare a challenge against the election results if the Cabinet changed the electoral law before the next ballot vote took place, a Kuwaiti daily reported Saturday. According to Al-Qabas, the Majority Bloc believed that the existing law – which divides Kuwait into five constituencies and entitles each citizen with up to four votes – was now immune after the Constitutional Court ruling that rejected the Cabinet's challenge to its constitutionality. Meanwhile, oppositionist lawmaker Dr. Waleed Al-Tabtabaei said that if a decree to dissolve the parliament was made and new elections were called, public protests would come to an end as candidates would then shift toward their election campaigns. However, according to Al-Tabtabaei, if the electoral law was changed, the 34 members of the Majority Bloc who formed a coalition after dominating the majority seats in the annulled parliament elected in last February, would boycott the elections. The electoral law was upheld two weeks ago by the Constitutional Court which rejected the Cabinet's challenge to its constitutionality on the basis that it breached equality with regards to demographic distribution within constituencies. The Cabinet forwarded a motion to dissolve the 2009 parliament – reinstated by a key ruling last June – to the Emir last Tuesday. – Agencies
