A Kuwaiti administrative court threw out on Sunday legal challenges to a parliamentary election set for July 27, a judicial source and an elections candidate said, effectively paving the way for the vote to proceed on time. Almost constant factional infighting over the past seven years has prompted repeated elections, stalled infrastructure development and held up economic reforms in Kuwait, an important Gulf Arab oil producer and U.S. ally. A legal source said the Kuwait Administrative Court ruled it had no jurisdiction to look into three legal challenges by Kuwaiti citizens to the vote. One case related to a request to incorporate a residential area into one of the five electoral districts, while another pertained to whether the government had lost its legitimacy and thus its eligibility to call for new elections after a court ordered the dissolution of the previous parliament.
“The ruling today confirms the lack of jurisdiction as this is a matter between two branches of the state, and thus the elections will take place on time on July 27,” said Wasmi al-Wasmi, a political activist and election candidate.
On June 16 opposition supporters lost a legal fight to undo changes to the voting system they said favor pro-government candidates – a dispute which aggravated political tensions.
The Constitutional Court however found fault in the process leading up to the last elections in December and ordered a new ballot for the 50-member assembly.
The date falls during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Full Article: Kuwait court rejects election challenge, confirms July 27 vote | Reuters.
