By Khaled Al-Abdulhadi

KUWAIT: The National Assembly was annulled by the constitutional court on Sunday, March 19, 2023, leading to a complete overhaul of the 17th parliamentary legislative term’s decisions, including retirement reforms as well as all laws placed on the agenda but have not been voted on.

It is worth mentioning that the National Assembly has been annulled three times in history. A ruling on June 20, 2012 annulled the parliament, reverting to the 2009 National Assembly for similar reasons as the current annulment. After two invitations to the parliament that were not heeded by most members of the parliament, the Assembly was again annulled in Oct 7 of the same year.

The Constitutional Court ruled in the latest instance based on former MP and 2022 election candidate Ahmad Al-Hamad’s objection to the election, which included: (1) The election process was done with false procedures, as the decision to dissolve the 2020 parliament violated article 107 of the constitution, as the government that requested the dissolution was new and sworn in on the same day, nullifying all conflicts between the previous government and the parliament. (2)The election process, namely redistricting, was made without the approval of the National Assembly. (3) The election process in the second district had procedural errors with regards to the voting process, counting of votes and announcement of results.

Constitutional expert Mohammed Al-Faili told Kuwait News and Kuwait Times “the ruling is similar to the first annulled parliament in 2012, where the process of dissolvement was made by the resigned government before forming a new government. The court decided to annul the parliament based on the same reasons,” he said.

The court headed by Consultant Mohammed bin Naji ruled any conflict between the government and the parliament ends with the formation of a new government. Therefore, the Sept 29, 2022 election is completely annulled and the 17th parliamentary legislative term is annulled along with all decisions made during that term, reverting to the previous 2020 parliament.

There are two scenarios that may occur if we review the historical context. It is likely that what happened in 2012 repeats again, leading to another election this year, or the 2020 National Assembly will resume its duties until it finishes its term. The 2020 opposition, no longer the majority after the annulment, is put in a tight place, where they will have to accept the current situation, try to cooperate with the government and move forward with new legislation.