Kuwait Parliament Suspended after Opposition MPs Insist on PM’s Debriefing
Gulf
Kuwait - Merza al-Khuwaldi
The Kuwaiti National Assembly was again on Tuesday prevented from convening after opposition MPs “occupied” the front seats of the legislature, which are dedicated to ministers, in an attempt to press their demands. Their move, the second in a month, forced the parliament to adjourn its regular session. Speaker Marzouq al-Ghanim said the meeting would be suspended because the MPs had taken over the government seats. He revealed that the ministers had informed him that they would not be attending the session after they were notified that the lawmakers were sitting in their positions. He adjourned the session to June 8. About a month ago, the ministers also refused to attend a parliament meeting after their seats were occupied by the opposition lawmakers. The MPs have been resorting to this tactic to force Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah al-Khalid al-Sabah to appear before the debriefing platform, a move he has rejected. Ahead of Tuesday’s session, 25 lawmakers had declared via Twitter that there would be no meeting without the PM rising to the platform to be debriefed. Kuwait has been witnessing a struggle between the government and opposition MPs after the latter submitted debriefing requests to the PM and a number of ministers. The National Assembly had met in March to postpone the current and future grilling requests of the PM to late 2022. Several opposition MPs had boycotted the meeting. Six lawmakers had submitted four debriefing requests to the PM over what they allege are his “selectiveness in applying the law and his disrespect of the constitution”. They have also criticized the government’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, policies in fighting corruption and other issues.
from Asharq AL-awsat https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2992666/kuwait-parliament-suspended-after-opposition-mps-insist-pm%E2%80%99s-debriefing
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