KUWAIT CITY, 3 July 2006 — Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah yesterday re-appointed outgoing Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Muhammad Al-Sabah as premier.
The emir issued a decree naming Sheikh Nasser as prime minister and asked him to form a new government.
The move came one day after Sheikh Nasser tendered his Cabinet’s resignation, as stipulated by law following parliamentary polls.
Members of the opposition, which scored a resounding victory in Thursday’s elections, called on the premier to “understand the strong message sent by the Kuwaiti people” while forming the new Cabinet — and demanded the exclusion of tainted ministers.
“The government will escalate tension if it retains certain ministers who are the cause of crises with Parliament,” said MP Adnan Abdulsamad. “The ministers of energy and communications and the state minister for Cabinet affairs must be excluded from the new Cabinet,” Abdulsamad told reporters.
Opposition MP Mussallam Al-Barrak said the next Cabinet must include clean ministers. “We want a strong, cohesive Cabinet without the controversial ministers. We need clean ministers in the next Cabinet,” he told reporters.
The Kuwaiti opposition, a loose alliance of Islamists, liberals and nationalists, won 33 seats in the 50-member Parliament, securing the absolute majority required to push through legislation.
Some 43 newly elected MPs held an informal meeting yesterday to discuss the most important issues in the next parliamentary term.
MP Khaled Al-Adwah said they discussed the issue of slashing the number of constituencies, which triggered the dissolution of the previous Parliament.
“Some MPs supported the reduction to five districts and others called for turning Kuwait into a single constituency. No decision has been taken as more meetings will be held,” Al-Adwah said.
