KUWAIT: His Highness the Amir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah inaugurates the first regular session of the 16th legislative term of the National Assembly today at 10:00 am. Today's inaugural session marks the start of the National Assembly's first legislative term in the era of His Highness Sheikh Nawaf as Kuwait's Amir. Several legislative terms had come to pass since the late Amir Sheikh Abdullah Al-Salem Al-Sabah approved the constitution on November 11, 1962, a document which regulated the relation among the executive, legislative and judiciary authorities.

On January 29, 1963, the first legislative term took effect until it ended on January 3, 1967. The second legislative term began on February 7, 1967 and lasted until December 30, 1970. The opening session of the third legislative term was held on February 10, 1971 and concluded on January 8, 1975. The first session of the fourth legislative term took place on February 11, 1975 and continued until August 29, 1976 while the fifth term started on March 9, 1981 and ended on January 19, 1985.

The sixth legislative term began on March 9, 1985, but the parliament was dissolved on July 3, 1986. On April 22, 1990, the late Amir Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah formed the national council which ended its first term in August of 1990, the year of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. The council resumed operation and its second term by July 9, 1991 and concluded the term on August 1, 1992.

Resumed role
The National Assembly resumed its role on October 20, 1992 with the seventh legislative term, concluding on October 5, 1996. The eighth legislative term began on October 20, 1996, but parliament was dissolved by May 4, 1999. The ninth legislative term began on July 17, 1999 and ended on May 31, 2003. The 10th legislative term began on May 19, 2003; however, it did not last and was dissolved on May 21, 2006. Then came the 11th legislative term, which met the same fate, beginning on July 12, 2006 and dissolving on March 19, 2008.

The 12th legislative term followed the previous incarnations of parliament with dissolution, starting on June 1, 2008 and ending on March 18, 2009. The 13th legislative term began on May 31, 2009 and did not end the cycle of dissolution, as the term was suspended on December 6, 2011. The dissolving of the parliament was the fate of the 14th legislative term, which began on August 6, 2013 and stopped short on October 16, 2016.

Finally, the 15th legislative term managed to break the cycle of dissolving parliament; beginning the term on December 23, 2016 and finishing it on October 20, 2020. The most recent elections on December 5, 2020 resulted in selection of 50 MPs from 395 hopefuls who took part in the democratic process. - KUNA