New MPs press for lifting of sport suspension

KUWAIT: MP Majid Al-Mutairi (left) speaks with MP Omar Al-Tabtabaei during a gathering at the diwaniya of MP Mohammad Al-Mutair on Tuesday. — Photo by Yasser Al-Zayyar

KUWAIT: Former MPs and candidates who failed to win seats in the national assembly election last month yesterday filed 15 petitions challenging the election results raising the number of petitions received so far by the constitutional court to 21.

The court, whose rulings are final, has only one more day on next Sunday to receive more petitions and then the door for petitions will be shut. Yesterday's petitions included challenges from four former MPs Youssef Al-Zalzalah, Ahmad Al-Azmi, Mohammad Al-Barrak and Hamad Matar. Most of the petitions called for recounting of votes.

The difference between those who got the last two or three seats in each constituency and those who came in the 11th, 12th or even 13th place is sometimes a few dozen votes. The constitutional court will study each petition separately before deciding whether they are credible enough to be investigated. It may take the court several months to issue its rulings.

Sport crisis

In another development, new opposition MP Abdulwahab Al-Babtain said yesterday that he and MP Omar Al-Tabtabaei have prepared an initiative to resolve the sport crisis and help end the international suspension of Kuwait.

He said that the initiative has already been signed by 27 lawmakers and essentially calls on the government to pledge to amend the sports law passed by the previous assembly in June within three months for the international sports organizations to end the freeze. He called on other MPs to sign the initiative before it will be published today ahead of submitting it to the new government after its formation.

Babtain said the lawmakers will assist the government in amending the law within the stipulated period in order to help end the suspension on the local sports bodies. He said that disputes in the sports field has continued for the past 10 years and it is time to tell them "hands off" Kuwaiti sports and let us work to resolve the crisis.

But another opposition MP Riyadh Al-Sane said that Kuwait does not need to pledge to amend its legislation because the country was suspended in 2010 before the specific legislation was issued. He said he believes that the suspension is not related to domestic legislation or the independence of the sports movement but due to the scrapping of financial and administrative supervision. Adasani stressed that the Kuwaiti sports has been badly harmed by continued political disputes and Kuwait and its sportsmen became the victims.

DNA law

MP Abdulkarim Al-Kandari said he has prepared a draft law calling for the abolishing of the controversial laws of DNA testing and a law that bars people convicted of religious crimes or insulting the Amir from running in the polls. Kandari said the proposal will be submitted after the first session, adding that he will review most bills passed by the previous national assembly to see how they should be rectified.

MP Al-Humaidi Al-Subaie said yesterday that he and MP Mubarak Al-Hajraf yesterday met with MP Hamad Al-Harashani, who will chair the first session on Sunday, and agreed that voting for the speaker and deputy speaker will be through the ballot and not through the electronic system. Other election will be made through the electronic system.

By B Izzak