Dozens of opposition activists who along with lawyers and journalists packed the small courtroom welcomed the ruling and began congratulating each other. The process continued outside the courtroom as leading opposition MP Musallam Al-Barrak walked down the Palace of Justice corridor, congratulated by activists.
The ruling was issued amid unprecedented tight security measures in which dozens of special forces and policemen, backed by armored vehicles, cordoned off the car park adjacent to the Palace of Justice amid expectations that opposition activists planned to demonstrate. Opposition figures and MPs welcomed the court ruling and called on the government to immediately dissolve the 2009 Assembly, reinstated in a landmark verdict by the same court in June, and hold fresh elections on the basis of the affirmed constituency law. Some opposition figures even called for the government to resign and others demanded penalizing the government ‘that cannot be trusted to run the affairs of the country’.
Following an extraordinary meeting after the court verdict, the Cabinet welcomed the ruling and said it will respect it. The Cabinet also said it has instructed all concerned departments to study the verdict in order to implement it. The Cabinet’s statement made no reference to any specific measures that may include a recommendation to HH the Amir to dissolve the 2009 Assembly and call for fresh polls.
