Kuwait Crown Prince issues decree dissolving parliament, again

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The Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) reported Monday that Kuwaiti Crown Prince Sheikh Mishaal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah issued a decree to dissolve the parliament, known as the National Assembly.

Sheikh Meshal, who inked Monday's Emiri decree, was handed most of the mandates of the ruling emir, Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, in late 2021. The cabinet had submitted the decree to Sheikh Meshal earlier in the day, as reported by KUNA.

Last month, Sheikh Meshal said that the "will of the people required new elections that would be accompanied by some legal and political reforms to take the country to a new phase of discipline and legal reference". He did not give any details on the reforms, however.

This comes after Kuwait's Constitutional Court reinstated, in March, the previous parliament, which was elected in 2020, after nullifying last year's legislative elections as the political crisis in the Gulf state continues.

The only Gulf state with a fully elected legislature and the key oil producer has been hit by regular feuding between the ruling Al-Sabah family and the Assembly.

Earlier in March, Sheikh Ahmad Nawaf Al-Sabah was re-appointed by the Kuwaiti Crown Prince, Sheikh Meshal Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, to form a new government more than one month after the former government resigned due to political rifts with parliament.

The government earlier submitted its resignation to the political leadership in the wake of the crisis with the National Assembly against the backdrop of popular laws, as well as some other issues.

In attempts to defuse political tensions in the country, the crown prince announced the dissolution of parliament and called for early elections, which then granted the opposition more gains in the government.

Opposition members won the majority in the parliamentary elections, in September 2022, and managed to secure 28 seats out of 50, nearly 60% of the National Assembly seats. The opposition has regularly accused ministers from the royal family of mismanagement and corruption.

"The Kuwaiti Constitutional Court issued a verdict on 19 March annulling the results of the 2022 National Assembly elections," due to controversies in the decree that dissolved the previous parliament, Kuwaiti state agency KUNA said. The decree came following a number of electoral appeals, Lawyer Nawaf Al-Yassin said as quoted by AFP. 

"The appeals relate to the invalidity of the electoral process, the decrees calling for elections, and the decree dissolving the previous National Assembly," he added.