How
does Kuwait’s National Assembly function ?
Kuwait has 25 election districts, each of which
elects two members. Thus, the National Assembly
has 50 elected members. In addition, it has between
11 and 16 other members, that is, cabinet ministers
who serve ex-officio in the National Assembly.
The Constitution does not allude to the creation
of political parties, neither approving of nor prohibiting
them. In theory, the government does not allow them
to exist, though political “groups”
(tajammuat) with overt political views
do exist and fulfill the role of parties elsewhere.
They cannot, however, form a government; that is
the right of the Prime Minister, who is appointed
by HH the Amir. Kuwait’s first parliamentary
election took place in 1963, and it’s most
recent occurred in July 1999. Members of the ruling
family do not run for office, so the Prime Minister
is never an elected member of the assembly.
Kuwait’s Constitution makes all cabinet officers
also members of the Assembly with full voting rights;
the Assembly has 61 members, 50 elected and 11 appointed.
Members are elected to four-year terms and the
entire body stands for election at the same time.
HH the Amir has the power to adjourn the Assembly
for a period not exceeding one month and may also
dissolve the Assembly and call for new elections
within two months.
The Constitution also permits the assembly to cast
a vote of no confidence in a master; question ministers
and investigate government conduct; establish investigate
committees; and discuss any issue that it finds
appropriate.
By authority of a law passed after Liberation,
the Assembly’s Accounting Office provinces
independent Supervision of expenditures of public
funds.
The Constitution also empowers the National Assembly
to overturn any Amiri decrees made during the dissolution,
and the Assembly has exercised this right on occasion.
The Parliament can also veto a law proposed by the
government or impose a law rejected by the government.
No bill becomes law in Kuwait without parliamentary.
