Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Kuwaitis protest dissolution of parliament

The Constitutional Court declared February elections in Kuwait illegal. The opposition won 34 of 50 seats in those elections. The court re-instated the previous pro-government parliament. The newly elected parliament dominated by oppoition members had been a pain in the royal posterior.
The demonstrators swarmed into Kuwait City Erada square chanting"we will not surrender" Sheikh Sabah al-Sabah ordered the parliament's dissolution and early elections. There are claims of corruption within the government including bribes paid to pro-government MPs.
Compared to some other Gulf sheikhdoms the Kuwaiti parliament has considerable powers and members often criticize the ruling family. However, the Sabahs still control key government posts. Even though the opposition won over half the seats in parliament they were not given an equal number of posts in the cabinet.
Parlaiament kept calling government ministers for questioning. The emir suspended parliament for a month to avoid a political crisis. Now the constitutional court had solved his immediate problem but the crisis remains. For more see this article.

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