Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Kuwaiti Court Ruling to Annul Elections Unprecedented

KUWAIT, June 20 (KUNA) -- The ruling by Kuwait's Constitutional Court to annul the recent parliamentary elections and reinstate the former dissolved parliament is the first of its kind since the court's inception in 1973.

The court, chaired by Head of Kuwait's Judiciary Council Faisal Al-Rashed, annulled the National Assembly elections held on February 2, 2012 and cancelled the membership of its declared winners.

The court based its decision on the grounds that two decrees to dissolve the former parliament and to call for fresh elections were illegal.

The ruling also stipulated that "the previous parliament regains its constitutional powers as if it had not been dissolved."

The ruling comes two days after His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah's decree to suspend parliament sessions for a month, following rising tensions between the parliament and the government.

In early December last year, HH the Amir issued a decree to dissolve the parliament, issuing another decree a few days later inviting Kuwaitis to elect a new parliament on February 2.

The Kuwaiti parliament has been dissolved four times since 2006, but this is the first time in the history of the country that the parliament was dissolved by a constitutional court ruling.




1 comment:

Always great to hear from you :O)