By B Izzak

KUWAIT: HH the Crown Prince Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah launched on Monday customary consultations to name the prime minister by meeting former parliament speakers Marzouq Al-Ghanem and Ahmad Al-Saadoun. HH the Crown Prince is also expected to meet former prime ministers HH Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah and HH Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Sabah as part of the consultations required by the constitution.

He is likely to meet HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Ahmad Al-Nawaf Al-Sabah, who is highly expected to be asked to form the next government that will deal with a new National Assembly dominated by the opposition. The new Cabinet must be formed and sworn in by HH the Crown Prince before the new Assembly is scheduled to hold its inaugural session on Oct 11 to hear an Amiri address, then elect the new speaker.

KUWAIT: HH the Crown Prince Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah meets former parliament speakers Ahmad Al-Saadoun on Oct 3, 2022. - KUNA photos

A majority of new MPs have publicly declared they will vote for Saadoun, an 87-year-old veteran leader and former three-time speaker, as the next speaker. MPs however still differ on the deputy speaker and are likely to meet informally in the coming days to coordinate ahead of the opening session. MP Mubarak Al-Hajraf said on Monday he will submit on the opening day a draft law calling for a general pardon of all political prisoners and dissidents. MP Abdullah Fahhad had also said he will submit a similar bill.

Meanwhile, the criminal court released on Monday newly-elected MP Hamed Al-Bathali from jail to allow him to take the oath in the National Assembly. Bathali and MP Marzouq Al-Khalifa were both elected while in jail. The criminal court delayed Bathali's case until Dec 1 and asked the Assembly to lift his immunity so he could be tried on charges that he took part in outlawed tribal primary elections.

But the court of cassation refused a request by Khalifa's lawyers to release him to be able to attend the Assembly's opening session. Khalifa and several men of his tribe had been sentenced to two years in jail by the criminal court for taking part in tribal primary elections. The verdict was upheld by the court of appeals and he challenged it before the court of cassation, whose rulings are final. The cassation court ordered him detained until it will issue its verdict on Oct 10, just one day before the Assembly's opening session.