Manama: Kuwait's prime minister has formed a compact government in which no new minister was appointed.
The 10-minister cabinet will last until the announcement of the results of the parliamentarian elections expected to be held in early February.
Four ministers in the outgoing government, Mohammad Al Afassi, Ali Al Rashed, Abdul Wahab Al Haroon and Hilal Al Sayer, have been dropped from the new formation after they insisted on their resignation or opted to run for parliament.
The new cabinet will be sworn in on Wednesday amid expectations that the Emir--who approved the formation late on Tuesday--will re-issue the order to dissolve the parliament and put an end to the heated debates over the constitutionality of the December 6 order.
Under Kuwait's laws, the dissolution is based upon a recommendation from the government.
However, the cabinet resigned on November 28 and only Shaikh Jaber Mubarak Al Sabah was appointed prime minister, prompting several former lawmakers and legal experts to claim that there was no genuine government at the time and that the dissolution recommendation was unconstitutional.
The claims were refuted by other legal experts who said that there was a government running the affairs of the state and that the dissolution was constitutional.
Elections must be held within 60 days of the parliament dissolution.
