Kuwaiti Ruler Accepts Government Resignation after One Month in Power.
RIYADH – Kuwait’s ruler Nawaf al Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah accepted on Monday the resignation tendered by the cabinet of Prime Minister Sabah al-Khaled over tensions with parliament, just one month after the government was put together.
The Emir “instructed the ministers to run ‘urgent affairs’ in their ministries until a new government is formed,” the state-run KUNA news agency reported.
The step comes a week after the Kuwaiti ministers filed their resignation to al-Khaled, who in turn tendered his own and the government’s to the Emir.
The government was formed on Dec. 14, nine days after the parliamentary elections that saw the opposition’s 16 seats increase to 24, nearly half of the Parliament’s 50 seats.
A few weeks ago, 38 legislators voted for a motion of no confidence in the prime minister.
Corruption, an issue which hung over the previous government, has been one of the main reasons behind the tension between parliament and the cabinet.
The government’s attempts to increase taxes, something the Gulf country had avoided thanks to oil revenues, have also played a role in the tensions.
An economic crisis, driven mainly by the fall in oil prices and the coronavirus pandemic, has been another factor that led to the results of December’s elections.
Al-Khaled was named prime minister in December 2019 by late ruler Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah amid a political crisis over corruption scandals that prompted Premier Jaber al Mubarak to quit.
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