March 06, 2007	Tuesday	Safar 16, 1428

KUWAIT CITY: Politicians in Kuwait called on Monday for urgent action following the fall of the government after just eight months in office, the latest damaging crisis to rock the oil-rich Gulf state.

Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Mohammad al-Ahmad al-Sabah and his cabinet resigned on Sunday on the eve of a parliamentary no-confidence vote in a senior minister and member of the powerful ruling family.

“I believe it will be one crisis after another unless we tackle the root cause of the problem,” the leader of the outlawed Ummah Party, Hakem al-Mutairi, said.

The wrangling is also stalling development projects and economic reform in the Opec member state, whose coffers have been swelled by high oil prices.

Kuwait’s current political woes date back to January 2006 when a power struggle broke out within the ruling Al-Sabah family that culminated in the removal of former ailing emir Sheikh Saad Abdullah al-Sabah.

Just four months later, parliament was dissolved following a bitter standoff between the government and lawmakers.

An election was then held in which the opposition, made up of Islamists, liberals and nationalists, won a dramatic victory, gaining a majority of 33 seats in the 50-member house

Despite having a new powerful ruler in Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah and a robust new parliament, the government collapsed after barely eight months in office.

It resigned after it became clear that opposition MPs had enough support to vote Health Minister Sheikh Ahmad Abdullah al-Sabah out of office.

The prime minister, a nephew of the emir, had the option of carrying out a reshuffle, but decided to step down because several other ministers were at risk of being questioned in parliament.

Although a parliamentary system was introduced to the emirate in 1962, political parties remain banned.

“We must change our traditional political practices which have been a failure. We must adopt political pluralism and the peaceful rotation of power,” said Mutairi. “Our system is not a true democracy.” He called for the government to be formed by elected MPs – as in Western-style democracies – so it can be answerable for its actions.

Under the Kuwaiti system and constitution, the ruler enjoys extensive powers including naming the crown prince and prime minister and dissolving parliament.

Opposition MP Mussallam al-Barrak said he believed there was no need for major changes to the system, although he acknowledged there were problems.

—AFP