{"id":48264,"date":"2024-05-11T06:56:31","date_gmt":"2024-05-11T06:56:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/11\/kuwaiti-emir-suspends-parliament-citing-political-tumult\/"},"modified":"2024-05-11T06:56:32","modified_gmt":"2024-05-11T06:56:32","slug":"kuwaiti-emir-suspends-parliament-citing-political-tumult","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/11\/kuwaiti-emir-suspends-parliament-citing-political-tumult\/","title":{"rendered":"Kuwaiti Emir Suspends Parliament, Citing Political Tumult"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1050\" height=\"549\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/05\/10\/multimedia\/10Kuwait-Parliament\/10Kuwait-Parliament-facebookJumbo.jpg?resize=1050,549&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Kuwaiti Emir Suspends Parliament, Citing Political Tumult\" title=\"Kuwaiti Emir Suspends Parliament, Citing Political Tumult\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The emir of Kuwait announced on Friday that he would suspend the elected Parliament for up to four years, stoking fears that he could move to dismantle one of the Middle East\u2019s last semi-democratic political systems.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI will not permit for democracy to be exploited to destroy the state,\u201d the emir, Sheikh Mishal Al Ahmed Al Sabah, said in a televised speech, declaring that a recent period of political turmoil required \u201chard decisions to save the country.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The emir also suspended several articles of the Constitution and said that the transitional period would be used to review \u201call aspects of the democratic process\u201d in Kuwait, an oil-rich state along the Persian Gulf. During the suspension, the emir and the cabinet will take over the 50-member Parliament\u2019s legislative powers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The decisions came a month after <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/04\/04\/world\/middleeast\/kuwait-elections-parliament.html\" title=\"\">elections<\/a> in which Kuwaitis chose a new Parliament, and its members had not yet begun their new session. While Kuwait\u2019s Parliament has frequently been dissolved in favor of new elections \u2014 most recently by Sheikh Mishal in February \u2014 a parliamentary suspension has happened only twice in Kuwaiti history, in 1976 and 1986.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThis is a serious setback for democracy in the Middle East,\u201d said Michael Herb, a political science professor at Georgia State University. \u201cThis suspension of the Parliament threatens to make Kuwait as authoritarian as the other Gulf monarchies.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">There is still hope that the country could take a different path, he added; after both past suspensions, Parliament was eventually restored.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In Kuwait, frequent deadlocks between Parliament and the executive branch have led to political turmoil, which has intensified over the past five years. The country has experienced much parliamentary turnover and frequent cabinet <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/middle-east\/kuwait-pm-submits-resignation-cabinet-state-news-agency-2023-01-23\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">resignations<\/a>, and officials have had little time to execute their agendas. Kuwait has also lagged behind the rest of the hydrocarbon-rich Gulf in infrastructure development and economic diversification.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Kuwait is far from a full democracy: Its ruler is a hereditary monarch, and political parties are illegal. But across a Middle Eastern region where many states are becoming more <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/02\/21\/world\/middleeast\/saudi-arabia-dissent-crackdown.html\" title=\"\">repressive<\/a>, Kuwait represents a rare alternative, scholars say, nurturing elements of democracy even after Arab Spring uprisings were crushed more than a decade ago and countries including Tunisia and Egypt began to <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/05\/07\/world\/middleeast\/tunisia-democracy-economy.html\" title=\"\">march back<\/a> toward authoritarianism.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Kuwait\u2019s Parliament is significantly more powerful than the largely symbolic assemblies in neighboring monarchies like Saudi Arabia. Its members have the right to publicly interrogate cabinet ministers; wield influence over the state budget; and approve the emir\u2019s appointment of a new crown prince, the heir to the throne.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In his speech on Friday, Sheikh Mishal, who came to power in December after <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/12\/16\/world\/middleeast\/sheikh-nawaf-dead.html?searchResultPosition=1\" title=\"\">the death of the former emir<\/a>, lamented that the national wealth had been \u201cwasted.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThe interests of Kuwait\u2019s people come above all else and are entrusted to us, and we need to maintain and protect them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">He referred to unspecified political actors \u201cexceeding their bounds\u201d and complained that \u201csome, unfortunately, have interfered with the heart of the emir\u2019s purviews and meddled in his choice of a crown prince.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The position of crown prince \u2014 the next ruler in waiting \u2014 is currently vacant, and Sheikh Mishal must appoint one. He did not clarify who was meddling. And it was not clear why Parliament would be suspended for up to four years. But four years is the typical parliamentary term.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Some Kuwaitis expressed optimism about the potential for the suspension to break the country\u2019s political stalemate, giving the government space to execute its agenda unobstructed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cImportant policies such as the national budget have been delayed and hampered owing to dysfunctional politics,\u201d said Clemens Chay, a research fellow in the Middle East Institute at the National University of Singapore.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But the emir\u2019s speech also stoked fears that he would curb Kuwaitis\u2019 relative political freedoms.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cTo our brothers in Kuwait: If you need any help to find ways to live, survive and persist underneath an authoritarian regime without public freedoms, your neighbors in the rest of the Gulf countries have lengthy experience with this,\u201d Sultan Alamer, a Saudi political science scholar who lives in the United States, wrote on X, the social media platform. \u201cWe\u2019re in this together.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Sean Yom, an associate professor of political science at Temple University, said that he worried how domestic dissent would now be treated.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWhat happens to political critics and opposition blocs if they no longer have Parliament, which has always embodied the pluralism of Kuwaiti society?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Yom pointed out that the next few years would most likely bring constitutional amendments, the dilution of Parliament\u2019s powers and the crucial appointment of a crown prince; Sheikh Mishal is 83.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Bader Al-Saif, an assistant professor of history at Kuwait University, said that the main challenge would be salvaging the system through constitutional amendments while maintaining Kuwait\u2019s \u201crelative openness.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThe government will be under much more scrutiny as there\u2019s no Parliament to blame,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/05\/10\/world\/middleeast\/kuwait-emir-parliament-suspension.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The emir of Kuwait announced on Friday that he would suspend the elected Parliament for up to four years, stoking fears that he could move to dismantle one of the Middle East\u2019s last semi-democratic political systems. \u201cI will not permit for democracy to be exploited to destroy the state,\u201d the emir, Sheikh Mishal Al Ahmed [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":48265,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/05\/10\/multimedia\/10Kuwait-Parliament\/10Kuwait-Parliament-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[18631,48810,48809,3321,234,6851,48811],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48264"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48264"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48264\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48266,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48264\/revisions\/48266"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}