KUWAIT Kuwait’s crown prince dissolves parliament and announces elections

New setback after the Constitutional Court ruling that in March annulled the September elections and restored the 2020 assembly. The vote should be held in the coming months. A decision justified by the “will” of the people, to bring the country to a phase of greater stability.

Kuwait City () – A new institutional setback in Kuwait, a month after the Constitutional Court annulled the parliamentary elections last September, in which the opposition had won a clear victory. In March, the judges had ordered the reestablishment of the previous assembly. Yesterday, the crown prince, who enjoys extensive powers granted by the emir, intervened announcing the dissolution of the newly restored parliament and new parliamentary elections, which should be held in the coming months.

The Gulf Arab country, an OPEC member, has long grappled with an institutional standoff between the government and parliament, which has blocked tax reforms. Last year, a decree to dissolve the assembly was promulgated to put an end to the internal dispute, with early elections that, however, were not enough to guarantee stability.

“We have decided to dissolve the 2020 National Assembly that reestablished the Constitutional Court and we will call new elections,” declared the crown prince, Sheikh Meshal al-Ahmad al-Sabah, speaking on behalf of the emir, who entrusted him with most of the powers. The crown prince then added that the “will of the people” requires new elections, but that they must be accompanied by “legal and political reforms” to bring the country to a new phase, although without specifying what changes he was referring to.

The Arab nation, an ally of the United States, has a strong budget and significant revenues, but infighting and political stalemate have hampered investment and reforms aimed at reducing its heavy reliance on oil revenues. The prime minister, Sheikh Ahmad Nawaf al-Sabah, the emir’s son, had resigned from the government in January due to friction with the parliament elected last year. The head of government was reappointed prime minister in March, before announcing the formation of a new executive in April.

The emirate is governed by a constitutional monarchy, with a parliamentary system of government that is also the oldest in the Gulf and enjoys enormous powers, such as passing or vetoing laws, questioning ministers and casting votes of no confidence against senior officials. The Majlis al-Umma is composed of 50 members, elected in elections held every four years, and can also remove the prime minister or other ministers, and confirm the appointment of the crown prince and the emir, whose throne is hereditary, as long as they stick to a conservative political line.

Kuwait has a population of about 4.4 million, mostly foreign workers, who are not granted the right to vote and are unlikely to obtain citizenship. The first Parliament was elected in 1963, two years after independence from the United Kingdom, on June 19, 1961. It was the first Arab nation to adopt a Constitution in 1962. It is characterized by extreme political instability, which has in fact hampered economic development. Kuwait is among the top exporters of crude oil (accounting for 90% of revenue), but frequent cases of corruption and direct confrontation between Parliament and the government have created periods of political stalemate.