37 MPs agree to back Al Humaidi as new speaker of Kuwait parliament
Marzouq Al Ghanim has been the speaker of parliament since 2013
Kuwait City: Following an informal meeting in Kuwait on Wednesday held by MP Abdul Karim Al Kandari, 37 MPs have decided to back Bader Al Humaidi’s nomination for speaker of parliament.
Al Humaidi, the former Minister of Public Works and Minister of State for Housing Affairs, will be running against the incumbent speaker Marzouq Al Ghanim.
The 37 MPs that publicly stated to vote for Al Humaidi are a combination of incumbents, MPs of previous parliaments and newly elected candidates. Those who attended the meeting are seen as the ‘opposition’, a loosely coined term in the sphere of Kuwaiti politics, as they look to replace Al Ghanim as speaker, who has been favoured as speaker by the government in the past.
Although 37 MPs have publicly endorsed Al Humaidi, the voting process is done anonymously and will take place on December 15 during the first session of the 16th legislative term.
For a candidate to be elected as speaker, they only need 33 votes.
The 65 members of parliament, of which are 15 are appointed ministers, partake in the vote.
It is unclear who the 15 ministers will be, as the previous government, lead by Sabah Al Khaled Al Sabah, handed in its resignation to the Emir, Sheikh Nawaf Al Ahmed Al Sabah, on Sunday as is customary for the previous government to hand in its resignation after a parliamentary election is held.
Sabah Al Khaled was reappointed as Prime Minister on Tuesday by the Emir.
Change in speaker
The call to replace Al Ghanim as speaker, who has held the position since 2013, was brought up a lot during the election cycle, as many candidates publicly stated that they will vote against the previous speaker if elected.
A few hours after the election results were finalised, on December 6, Al Humaidi announced that he will be running for speaker.
On December 7, Bader Al Dahoom, previously an MP in the February 2012 parliament, called on the newly elected members to attend a meeting where they discussed a variety of issues. Most importantly, they agreed to replace Al Ghanim as speaker. In addition, they decided to hold a meeting on Wednesday to decide on a deputy speaker and establish a coordination committee; 38 MPs attended the meeting.
