Kuwait’s newly elected MPs meet informally to discuss priorities

Members of Kuwait’s newly elected parliament met informally before their inaugural session on June 20 to set out priorities that may include a bill to amend Constitutional Court law.

The meeting on Sunday night, the first of its kind, included 47 of the 50-member assembly led by Mohammed Hayef Al Mutairi, who said that the new parliament “will not be satisfied with a weak government”.

Marzouq Al Ghanim, the speaker of the dissolved 2020 parliament, and Jenan Boushehri, the one woman to be elected to this year’s parliament, were absent from Sunday’s meeting.

The meeting was held hours after 14 MPs signed a statement proposing a draft plan for the new parliament to work towards political reforms, economic development, and efforts to end financial corruption.

“Those who attended the meeting agreed that amending the Constitutional Court law would be one of the most important priorities of the next assembly and amending some articles of the internal regulations of the National Assembly,” Hamdan Al Azmi MP said after the meeting.

Mr Al Azmi said that MPs were considering amendments to parliament’s bylaws that required government representation during assembly sessions.

Past cabinets have boycotted parliament sessions while they were feuding with MPs, which prevented parliament from sitting to debate and pass laws.

The statement released at the weekend by 14 MPs said that “based on the popular mandate, it is imperative to launch a new political era to be centred on reforms and development, (to) focus on the diversification of sources of income and encourage fighting corruption and holding the forces of corruption accountable”.

Kuwaitis voted last Tuesday in their seventh general election in just over a decade, their third in three years following tensions between the elected parliament and appointed government when the emir dissolved the assembly twice.

The September 2022 elections were nullified in March and parliament was reinstated under its 2020 composition following a Constitutional Court order. In May, that parliament was again dissolved by the emir for elections.