KUWAITIS will head to ballot boxes to choose their legislative representatives for the second time this year, a remarkable score for the relatively democratic monarch amidst its neighbouring oil-rich Gulf Sheikhdoms. The dissolution of the parliament has been the usual ploy used by Kuwait Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah whenever relation between the government and hand-picked MPs brews up and grilling of government officials becomes inevitable. The dissolved parliament is the one which was elected in 2009 and reinstated in June after the then existing parliament was nullified. According to Kuwait Constitution, elections, the fifth in six years, should be held within 60 days from the Emir's decree. This is the second time this parliament has been dissolved. The first time was in December 2011, after a series of protests and allegations of corruption against some of its members. Elections took place in February this year and the opposition secured a big victory winning 35 out of the 50 seat assembly. But it was a short-lived assembly; four months later and after the assembly pushed out two government ministers from their posts, the Constitutional Court cancelled the electoral process as illegal, and noted the "unconstitutionality of the decree that dissolved the parliament". The decision to dissolve parliament was first suggested by the Cabinet last week on a pretext that the assembly failed to hold any meeting after it was revived despite being invited to meet on 31 July and 7 August. However, this time what is at stake is not the dissolution of the parliament and going through the electoral process or even obstruction of development projects that are lined up for approval from the parliament to start implementation. Kuwaitis are apprehensive that another decree would change the ongoing electoral law. Former MP Musallam Al-Barrak said: "The decree dissolving the [2009] parliament -- of shame and disgrace -- leaves Kuwait with only two options. The first option is in line with the constitution and its provisions and calls for new elections under the current electoral law and voting mechanism, whereas the second is a third coup against the constitution should an urgent decree be issued to change the electoral system and voting mechanism." To pre-empt this move, opposition political blocs and the mostly Islamist Majority Bloc signed a document before the emir's decree that rejects any amendments to the elections law prior to the upcoming parliament elections. The document rejects changes to the five constituencies and the number of votes, saying the matter is the prerogative of the legislative authority, ruling out debate of "prerogatives of the emir authority". The signatories include the Majority Bloc, the Kuwaiti Reform Movement, the Popular Bloc, the Reform and Development Bloc, the Islamic Constitutional Movement ICM, as well as liberal MP Saleh Al-Mullah. Members of the Majority Bloc went as far as threatening a boycott to the upcoming elections if the decrees are issued, while youth opposition group Nahaj met on Saturday to discuss whether or not to continue gathering at Al-Erada Square to protest against any electoral changes.
