Islamists not to be part of new Cabinet

Kuwait City: Islamist parties said they will not participate in the Kuwaiti Cabinet being formed by former Prime Minister Shaikh Nasser Al Mohammad Al Sabah.

The government is expected to be weak and will have no clear mandate, according to the Salafi Political Movement, a group of hardline religious activists who have four seats in the elected National Assembly.

The Salafi decision comes in the wake of the Islamic Constitutional Movement (the Muslim Brotherhood) deciding to reject any request to be part of the new government.

The Salafi movement was represented by Ahmad Baqer, Commerce Minister, in the last government.

Damage

"The experience of Ahmad Baqer in the outgoing cabinet was not successful and caused a lot of damage to the movement. We lost many supporters," a Salafist source said yesterday.

Opposition to any role in Shaikh Nasser's government had started quietly, but grew public among loyalists, especially in the remote areas of Kuwait, the source added.

Two daily columnists who support the Islamist movement urged its leaders not to be part of the new Cabinet because they believe it was a big mistake to participate in "a shaky cabinet which lacks a plan or clear agenda," they wrote in Al Watan newspaper yesterday.

Emir of Kuwait Shaikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah asked his former prime minister to return to his position and form a new Cabinet after he submitted his resignation last november.