Unlike the other Gulf States, Kuwait has a dynamic political life, with a Parliament elected for four years endowed with broad legislative powers and where debates are often lively. However, this rich oil State has been shaken for years by repeated political crises which have hampered its attempts at economic reform.
In a new twist in the country’s tumultuous political life, the Constitutional Court of Kuwait on Sunday March 19 invalidated the 2022 legislative elections, won by the opposition which, for the past ten years, has been boycotting the elections to denounce the interferences of the executive in legislative power.
“Kuwaiti’s Constitutional Court issued a verdict on Sunday invalidating the results of the National Assembly elections,” due to irregularities in the dissolution of the previous parliament, the official Kuna news agency reported. The Court also ruled in favor of restoring the Parliament elected in 2020, which had been dissolved last June on the decision of the Crown Prince, Sheikh Meshaal al-Ahmad al-Jaber Al-Sabah, the same source added. .
According to lawyer Nawaf Al-Yassine, the decision to invalidate the latest legislative elections follows several appeals challenging the regularity of procedures related to the ballot. “The appeals relate to the invalidity of the electoral process, the decrees calling for elections and the decree dissolving the previous National Assembly,” he told Agence France-Presse.
Turbulence is holding back reforms
Kuwait is ruled by the reigning Al-Sabah family, which keeps the keys to power even if the elected officials have important prerogatives, not hesitating to put on the grill ministers belonging to the royal family accused of bad management, even of corruption. Political parties are neither banned nor recognised, but many groups, including Islamists, act as de facto political formations. The current emir, Nawaf al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, 85, remains withdrawn from political life in favor of the crown prince.
The government resigned on January 23 just three months after its formation, the latest episode in the deep political crisis that is rocking the country. The sixth government formed in three years, he was sworn in in October after the victory of the opposition in the legislative elections, with the hope of ending the political turbulence which was curbing any attempt at reform.
The resignation came as parliamentarians planned to question two ministers over a debate over consumer loans and poor management of public finances in this wealthy state, one of the main exporters of crude oil. in the world.
The resigning government had promised to tackle important issues such as development projects, the fight against corruption and investments. Political instability in Kuwait has dampened investors’ appetites and hampered reforms in this admittedly rich country, which is struggling to diversify its economy as its powerful Saudi, Qatari and Emirati neighbors are currently doing.
