KUWAIT: A ruling by Kuwait’s top court next month could end a period of relative political stability, jeopardising government plans to push ahead with long-delayed economic projects.
One of the world’s richest countries per capita, Kuwait has struggled for years to get big infrastructure projects off the ground because of bureaucratic red tape and political turmoil. A parliamentary election in December was the fifth in six years.
The election seemed to be a turning point, however, since an opposition boycott of the poll meant members of parliament seen as more willing to cooperate with the government were elected.
This stirred investor hopes that the state would ramp up spending under a Dh30bn ($105bn) development plan, which aims to draw private and foreign investment and diversify the oil-reliant economy.
That optimism, which has helped to fuel a more than 30 percent rise in the stock market since the start of this year, could come to an end on June 16.
The constitutional court is expected to rule on an emergency decree issued by Kuwait’s ruler last year, six weeks before the December poll, which changed the rules for voting and triggered some of the largest street protests in the country’s history.
If the court rules that the decree was not constitutional, parliament will need to be dissolved, triggering a snap election, and legislation passed by the assembly may also be made invalid — sending Kuwait back to square one in economic policy terms, or close to it.
“An annulment of the current parliament and the return of major political uncertainty would be negative for investor perceptions and the economy,” said Farouk Soussa, Middle East chief economist at Citigroup in Dubai.
If the court rules in favour of Emir H H Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah’s decree, which changed the number of votes per citizen to one from four, the current parliament will be able to continue; this would make progress on investment more likely.
The court is widely seen as independent in Kuwait, which has the most democratic political system in the Gulf Arab region. Analysts and diplomats think the ruling could go either way.
“All Kuwaitis, we pride ourselves — even the opposition, even the government detractors — that our judiciary system is one of the best and the most independent in the Arab world,” said Abdullah Al Shayji, chairman of the political science department at Kuwait University.
In the past, constitutional court judges have issued some rulings in line with the government’s wishes, but they have also passed verdicts with the opposite effect.
Last June, for example, the court effectively dissolved a parliament dominated by the opposition, citing a technicality. But in September, it rejected a government request to change electoral boundaries.
Reuters
