Kuwait tense after opposition refuses to stop

Manama: Kuwait’s opposition has turned down a request to suspend its rallies until the end of the Asian Dialogue hosted by the Gulf country this week.

A demonstration was staged for Monday evening at Irada Square in the capital Kuwait City on the eve of the Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD) summit and the government hoped that it would be put off.

However, the opposition said that it would go ahead with its plan despite the request conveyed from the Emir by two of his advisors that no decree amending the controversial electoral law would be issued.

Former MPs said that they wanted more than promises that the electoral law would not be amended to end their protests.

The opposition’s refusal to suspend its rally is the latest indication of its increasingly difficult relations with the government.

The government in August sought a decision by the Constitutional Court to amend the electoral law, promulgated in 2006, that decreased the number of constituencies from 25 to five and gave each voter four votes.

The government said that it wanted to address all legal loopholes and to ensure a better representation of the people in the parliament.

However, the opposition said that the move was aimed at reducing its influence and that any amendment would result in a more compliant parliament.

The court on September 25 ruled that the law was constitutional and rejected the government’s case.

The verdict was seen as a positive development by the opposition, but enthusiasm was dampened by reports that the Emir could issue an emergency decree that could amend the law and reduce the number of ballots that each voter could cast from four to one or to two.

Anticipating that the government could press for such an emergency decree, the opposition has been pushing for maintaining the electoral status-quo and argued that only the new parliament should make possible amendments.

The opposition stance was endorsed by supporters, but it was condemned by several political and former parliamentarian figures who saw it as an unprecedented challenge to the prerogatives of the Emir.

Claims that the government reviewed at its session on Sunday an emergency decree on the electoral law were denied by the information minister.

“It was a regular and not an extraordinary session held on Sunday in order not to clash with the Asia Cooperation Dialogue summit,” Shaikh Mohammad Al Abdullah said. “The issue of the electoral law was not taken up at the session and claims that the cabinet reviewed it are pure imagination,” he said.