KUWAIT: Kuwait set December 1 as the date for a parliamentary election and amended the voting system yesterday, state media reported, a day after the oil producer’s ruler ordered changes to the electoral laws.
Friday’s announcement that the Kuwaiti Emir, H H Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah, ordered the changes prompted the opposition to say it was considering a boycott of the election.
Sabah had dissolved parliament on October 7, meaning that an election had to take place by mid-December.
Persistent political turmoil has held up development projects in the Gulf state, and ally of the United States.
“The cabinet ... approved the ordering of a call to voters to elect members of the parliament on December 1, 2012,” the government said in a statement carried by Kuwait News Agency (Kuna) after an extraordinary meeting.
The cabinet ordered a change to electoral procedures to allow voters to choose only one candidate in an electoral district, the statement said. Voters were previously allowed to cast ballots for four candidates. REUTERS
