Kuwait will hold a snap parliamentary election on 25 July, state news agency KUNA said, after the Gulf Arab state's top court dissolved the chamber on a technicality earlier this week in a case which has aggravated political tensions. The election will be the sixth since 2006 in the major oil producer and U.S. ally, where political upheaval has stalled infrastructure development and held up economic reforms. On Sunday opposition supporters lost a legal fight to undo changes to the voting system which they said favours pro-government candidates. The Constitutional Court however found fault in the process leading up to the last elections in December and ordered a new ballot for the 50-member assembly. "At an extraordinary meeting held today, the cabinet approved a draft decree inviting voters to elect members of the National Assembly on July 25," KUNA quoted Minister for Cabinet Affairs Sheikh Mohammad al-Mubarak al-Sabah as saying. The date falls during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Kuwait's parliament gives its people greater say than in other tightly-controlled Gulf Arab monarchies, although the emir still has the final word in state matters, with members of his ruling Al-Sabah family occupying top posts.
