KUWAIT CITY, 22 May 2006 — Kuwait’s ruler, Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah, dissolved Parliament yesterday and called early elections amid a dispute between the government and lawmakers over electoral reform.

He ordered parliamentary elections set for June 29 — moved up considerably from summer 2007, as originally planned.

The emir’s move was the latest trouble in the sometimes stormy relationship between Kuwait’s Parliament and ruling family as it tries to respond to demands for greater democracy.

Yesterday’s move was the fourth time an emir dissolved Parliament since it was created in 1963 — at times leaving the country without a legislature for years. Each of the previous times, dissolution has come after lawmakers became too critical in attempts to remove government ministers.

Parliament, where Islamists and conservative tribal lawmakers hold considerable influence, has also resisted the ruling family on some major pieces of legislation. For example, for years they held up laws allowing women to vote, though the emir refrained from dissolving the body and eventually pushed the bill through last year.

In past weeks, lawmakers had been at loggerheads with the Cabinet — which is led by a ruling family member — over a draft law for electoral reform. The government-proposed bill aimed to reduce the number of electoral constituencies from 25 to 10, but parliamentarians say a new law needs to go further — reducing constituencies to five — to combat vote buying.

Yesterday, the emir said in a brief televised address that the “charged” public arguments over electoral reform have become “a threat to the security and stability of the country,” and have weakened national unity.

“This is why I had to make a difficult decision, a decision I did not want to make. I believe it was my responsibility to take a decision to dissolve Parliament according to the constitution to maintain the security of our country and the safety of its people,” he said.

Sheikh Sabah said the period ahead of the elections will “give us time to calm down and to think of what is in the interest of our country in the present and the future.”

Early elections are expected to go ahead under the current 25-district system.

On Wednesday, three lawmakers submitted a request to Parliament seeking to pose questions to the prime minister on the draft law.

Opponents of the bill are numerous — in Parliament and among the public.

In Parliament, 29 of its 50 members opposed the draft law. Hundreds of young Kuwaiti men and women have protested in favor of a five-constituency system.

When the disputed reform bill was introduced to the house on Monday, the speaker suspended the session after rowdy, pro-reform spectators heckled lawmakers, and opposition parliamentarians stormed out.