Kuwait emir accepts govt resignation

KUWAIT CITY — Kuwait’s Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah Sunday issued a decree accepting the resignation of the Gulf state’s cabinet, the official KUNA news agency reported.

The ruler also asked outgoing Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Mubarak Al-Sabah and other ministers to continue as a caretaker government until a new cabinet is formed.

The cabinet resigned last week days after the constitutional court nullified the February legislative election, scrapping the opposition-dominated parliament, and reinstated the previous house.

The court ruling, which was based on the finding that two decrees dissolving the previous parliament and calling for fresh elections were flawed, sparked protests by thousands of Kuwaitis calling for a constitutional monarchy and a full parliamentary system.

Information Minister Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah Al-Sabah had said that the cabinet quit in order to give way to a new government to “take the necessary legal and constitutional procedures to implement the... court ruling.”

The outgoing cabinet was formed just over four months ago after February parliamentary poll, in which the opposition scored an impressive victory, achieving a majority.

It was the ninth cabinet to resign in the OPEC member since Feb. 2006. Two of the cabinet’s 16 ministers had been forced to quit over the past few weeks under pressure from MPs, while a third minister resigned.

The emir is due to start consultations Monday, asking Sheikh Jaber or another dignitary to form a new cabinet, with the former widely expected to be his first choice.

Sheikh Jaber had replaced Sheikh Nasser Mohammad Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, another senior member of the ruling family, who stepped down in November following youth-led street protests over corruption allegations.

Kuwait, OPEC’s fourth largest crude producer, has been rocked by a series of political crises over the past six years, which have seen nine cabinets resign and parliament dissolved five times.

The emirate, which says it sits on around 10 percent of global oil reserves, pumps around three million barrels per day of oil. It has a native population of 1.2 million besides 2.5 million foreign residents. — AFP