DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Kuwait formed a new government on Monday after the previous Cabinet was dissolved following the third parliamentary elections in three years amid infighting that has paralyzed the country’s political system.
The 15-member Cabinet was appointed by Prime Minister Sheikh Ahmad Nawaf Al Sabah, who in turn was reappointed to that post by his father, the emir, last week. They will join the 50 members of parliament elected earlier this month to form the National Assembly. It is the fifth Cabinet in less than a year.
Kuwait is alone among Gulf Arab countries in having a democratically elected assembly that exerts some checks on the ruling family. But in recent years, the disputes between the Cabinet and parliament have left it unable to enact even basic reforms.
Ten of the 15 Cabinet members, plus the prime minister, are reappointees, but there is a new defense minister, Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah, and oil minister, Saad Al Barrak.
Finance Minister Manaf Abdulaziz Al Hajri, was reinstated. He earlier replaced Abduwahab al-Rushaid, an outspoken young figure known for his criticism of the government’s fiscal policies.
A general election in September had delivered a mandate for change, bringing 27 new lawmakers to the 50-member assembly. However, in March, Kuwait’s Constitutional Court annulled the decree dissolving the previous parliament and reinstated it. A few weeks later, the ruling Al Sabah family dissolved that parliament for a second time, setting up the most recent vote, in which most of the lawmakers elected in September regained their seats.
The relationship between the parliament and the Cabinet will be strongly shaped by who wins the race to be speaker.
That is likely to pit Marzouq al-Ghanim, the scion of an influential family and a prominent member of the country’s powerful business community who was previously speaker for almost a decade, against veteran politician Ahmed al-Saadoun, who is seen as uniting those seeking change in the parliament.
Al-Ghanim is a known opponent of the prime minister and recently called him a “danger to the country.”
Kuwait’s political stalemate worsened after the 2020 death of its ruling emir, Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah, a seasoned diplomat who led the country for close to 15 years.
He was succeeded by his ailing half-brother, Sheikh Nawaf Al Ahmad Al Sabah, with Crown Prince Sheikh Meshal Al Ahmed Al Jaber Al Sabah assuming day-to-day rule. Both are in their 80s, and the line of succession after them is unclear.
The small Arab nation is one of the world’s wealthiest, with the sixth largest oil reserves and cradle-to-grave welfare for its 1.5 million citizens. But Kuwait’s deadlock has prevented the sheikhdom from taking on debt - leaving it with little in its coffers to pay bloated public sector salaries and not properly investing in education, health care, and other services.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.