KUWAIT CITY: Kuwait’s constitutional court ruled yesterday that emirate’s electoral constituency law was in line with the constitution, rejecting a government appeal.
“The recourse is rejected,” judge Faisal Al Murshid, Kuwait’s chief justice, declared in a short verdict, a day after thousands of opposition supporters rallied against the government’s attempt to redefine the constituencies.
Last month, the government asked the constitutional court, whose verdicts are final, to rule if the electoral constituency law was not in breach of the 1962 constitution.
The verdict was issued in a packed courtroom amid unprecedented security measures with dozens of riot police backed by armoured vehicles deployed around the Palace of Justice where the one-minute session was held.
Dozens of opposition activists who were in the court room hailed the verdict and exchanged congratulations.
The verdict is expected to ease heightened tension in the state where the Islamist and national opposition has been locked in ongoing disputes with the government.
The ruling is likely to defuse immediate tensions with the increasingly assertive opposition, which had promised to take to the streets if the court ruled in the government’s favour.
But it does not solve the problem of how to establish a functioning parliament. In the last assembly, dissolved on a technicality by the Constitutional Court, Islamist and tribal candidates tried to push through Islamist legislation while clashing with the government over finance bills including a major economic development plan.
The opposition had said the government’s petition to the court to change the electoral boundaries was an attempt to favour government-friendly candidates in a new election.
The court’s latest ruling suggests that a new assembly, whenever it is elected, is likely to have a similar make-up to the last one, and could be just as obstructive to the unelected government.
Kuwait, one of the richest countries in the world per capita, has a relatively open political system by Gulf standards, and has avoided the uprisings seen elsewhere in the Arab world.
The cabinet said in a statement that it “appreciated” the court’s decision and had asked relevant authorities to study the implications and consider the next steps. It did not elaborate.
While parliamentary approval is needed for major bills and the budget, the monarchy retains a firm grip on the main government portfolios, and political parties are banned.
“The constitutional ruling today means that the government should resign immediately,” Islamist MP Faisal Al Muslem wrote on Twitter, calling for new parliamentary elections. “This is a triumph of the will of the nation,” Islamist MP Waleed Al Tabtabie told almost a quarter of a million Twitter followers.
The Constitutional Court angered protesters with a separate ruling earlier this year when it effectively dissolved the opposition-dominated parliament elected in February.
The old, more government-friendly assembly that it reinstated has been unable to meet due to a boycott by MPs. Analysts say this means another dissolution is likely, with a new election this year or next.
The government had said it needed the Constitutional Court to rule on the electoral law to protect future elections from legal challenges. But the court declined to rule, saying it did not have the authority to dictate electoral boundaries.
“The government’s position has been partially compromised but this is unlikely to be a major event for the prime minister or the ruling family,” said Ayham Kamel, a Middle East analyst at Eurasia Group.
The decision puts pressure on the government but also on the opposition, said Kristian Ulrichsen, research fellow on Gulf States at the London School of Economics.
Agencies
