KUWAIT: With 11 members in attendance, the Municipal Council hosted an ordinary session yesterday, during which Chairman Muhalhel Al-Khaled declared that five seats are vacant, after members resigned last December to contest for parliamentary elections.

Meanwhile, the council's Secretary General Yousuf Al-Saqaabi read a letter from Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sheikh Khaled Al-Jarrah Al-Sabah concerning the nomination of five council members for the 2016 parliamentary elections. In addition, eight council members proposed declaring the five seats vacant and called for re-electing five other members through by-elections.

The council then discussed several issues on its agenda, including a request to name a street in Merqab after the late Jassem Abdul Hameed Al-Sager. It also debated the technology world project, the seventh ring road's developmental project, developing the vegetable and fruits market in Suliabiya, and accelerating transactions related to development projects.

Furthermore, the members discussed a request to allocate a session in order to discuss the issue concerning food unfit for human consumption that is found in crackdowns on restaurants and shops around the country; a problem that has persisted for years now. They also debated a request to refer blocks 3 and 4 in Kheitan to the Public Authority for Housing Welfare in order to carry out housing projects there, as well as a proposal to unify buildings' shapes and colors.

The council had failed to convene since the beginning of the year due to lack of quorum after the members' resignation, as the law stipulates that a Municipal Council member must step down if he decides to run for parliament. None of the nominated members won in the elections, and the law bars them from returning back to the council once they have resigned.

By Meshaal Al-Enezi