By B Izzak

KUWAIT: Speaker of the court-reinstated National Assembly Marzouq Al-Ghanem on Tuesday called for fresh and fair parliamentary elections to resolve the political crisis. “My message, which a majority of MPs share with me, is the call to return to the people, the source of all powers, to elect their representatives through fair elections,” Ghanem told a press conference at the National Assembly.

“The return to the people has become a pressing necessity,” said the speaker, adding that before holding the elections, all constitutional and legal procedures must be carefully verified to avoid nullifying the poll results by the constitutional court. The speaker called on the Assembly to approve as soon as possible a draft law calling for the establishment of a higher election commission that will oversee the entire election process.

He said 28 MPs of the reinstated Assembly have submitted a motion calling for quick approval of a number of draft laws related to the elections, mainly the formation of the election commission. Ghanem called on Prime Minister-designate HH Sheikh Ahmad Al-Nawaf Al-Sabah to quickly form the new Cabinet to pave the way for convening the Assembly to study and approve those laws as soon as possible.

The constitutional court on Sunday in a shock ruling annulled the results of the parliamentary elections held on Sept 29 last year, because the Amiri decree that dissolved the previous Assembly was deemed unconstitutional. The court also reinstated the previous National Assembly elected in 2020 and dissolved by HH the Amir in August last year due to disputes with the government.

Speaking at the press conference, Deputy Speaker Ahmad Al-Shuhoumi claimed last year’s parliamentary elections were marred by a series of violations, saying thousands of barred voters were allowed to cast their ballots. Shuhoumi called for probing the election process and investigating alleged violations before and during the polls. MP Obaid Al-Wasmi, who also took part in the press conference, said the total number of votes cast in last year’s election exceeded the number of registered voters.