Kuwait Cabinet sets snap election for Dec 1
KUWAIT: The Kuwaiti cabinet on Saturday amended a controversial
electoral law and set a December 1 date for snap polls, sparking angry
opposition calls for demonstrations.
“The cabinet approved the amendment of article 2 of the electoral law
to change the voting system... and approved a decree to invite voters to
elect a new national assembly on December 1,” it said in a statement.
The snap polls are the second this year and the fifth since mid-2006 as
parliament has repeatedly been dissolved because of political disputes.
“I call on every Kuwaiti to tear the December 1 paper from the calendar
and throw it in the dustbin. It is a black day in Kuwait's political
history,” opposition leader and former MP Mussallam al-Barrak wrote on
Twitter.
The opposition has called for a massive demonstration on Sunday in
protest at the decision to change the electoral constituency law,
charging it is a bid by the government to influence the results and
elect a rubber-stamp assembly.
The electoral constituency law, issued in 2006 after opposition-led
protests, divides the country into five electoral districts, each
electing 10 MPs to the 50-member parliament.
Under that legislation, each eligible voter was allowed to elect a
maximum of four candidates.
AFP |