Manama: Kuwait’s parliamentary elections will be held on July 27 as scheduled after the constitutional court on Tuesday rejected an urgent challenge to have them postponed or cancelled.
The case was filed by Attorney Adel Abdul Hadi who argued that the government had no constitutional right to endorse the decree calling for the elections.
According to the lawyer, the government did not include a member of the parliament as required by the law following the dissolution of the legislative house.
The Kuwaiti constitution stipulates the selection of an MP as a minister and Dhikra Al Rasheed, who was elected to the parliament on December 1, was subsequently chosen as the minister of labour and social affairs.
But, the lawyer argued, following the ruling of the Constitutional Court in June to dissolve the parliament, Dhikra lost her status as lawmaker and consequently as a minister, rendering the government invalid and unable to endorse decrees.
The lawyer said that the parliamentary elections could not be held.
Four cases had been filed to have the elections put off or cancelled, but they all failed after the administrative court said that it had no prerogatives to look into them.
In one case, a lawyer said that the residents of a new residential area were deprived of exercising their political rights after they realised that they were not officially registered in any of the five electoral constituencies of the country.
According to the latest figures, more than 300 candidates will be vying for the 50 seats in the oldest parliament in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states.
Candidates who have been told they could not run for diverse reasons are still hopeful that the legal process they have engaged will help them have their names cleared.
