Kuwaiti parliament dissolved amid political dispute

The Kuwaiti parliament has been dissolved upon the orders of the country’s emir on Tuesday, according to the state news agency KUNA.
“To rectify the political scene, the lack of harmony and cooperation… and behavior that undermines national unity, it was necessary to resort to the people…to rectify the path,” reads a decree issued by Crown Prince Sheikh Meshal Al Ahmad Al Sabah.
The decree said elections will be held within two months to elect a new parliament.
For months, the parliament and government have been in a dispute amid attempts by lawmakers to question ministers, a move seen by the government as a disruption of the executive authority.
On April 19, Parliament Speaker Marzouq Al Ghanim suspended the assembly’s sessions following the resignation of the government.
Earlier Tuesday, a new 12-member government was sworn in.
Parliament had not yet approved the state budget. Finance Minister Abdul Wahab al-Rasheed said on Tuesday the budget for the fiscal year 2022/2023 would be approved after the elections, for which no date has been set yet, and that the government would continue to work according to the 2021/2022 budget.
Al-Rasheed said in a statement the next budget, which had to be approved before November, had set spending at 23.65 billion dinars ($77.24 billion) compared with 23.48 billion in the 2021/2022 budget.
The previous government resigned in April ahead of a non-cooperation motion in parliament against Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Al Khalid, who late last month was replaced as premier by the current emir’s son Sheikh Ahmad Nawaf Al Sabah.
Political stability in Kuwait, an OPEC oil producer, has traditionally depended on cooperation between the government and parliament, the Gulf region’s most lively legislature.
Kuwait bans political parties but has given its legislature more influence than similar bodies in other Gulf monarchies.
Stalemates between Kuwait’s government and parliament have often led to Cabinet reshuffles and dissolutions of the legislature over the decades, hampering investment and reforms. The last time parliament was dissolved was in 2016.