Sources close to the minister said the denial came during a telephone conversation with one of the MPs of the majority bloc of the nullified 2012 National Assembly.
Following this development Islamist opposition MP Khaled Al-Sultan said this indicates the authority has the intention to amend the constituencies and/or the number of votes for each voter.
He added the majority bloc is now in direct confrontation with this deviation and what he called infringement on the powers of the legislature and the will of the people.
He argued there is no justification in issuing an emergency decree on the election law or use the 2009 Parliament to get this job done because this Parliament was rejected and dissolved by people power.
Denial
MP Abdullah Al-Turaiji also expressed his fears following the denial of the earlier report by the Information Minister.
He said the government is planning to amend the election districts and/or reduce the number of voters for each voter.
Based on earlier reports Al-Sultan had said the minister’s announcement brought relief and the opposition lawmakers who had threatened to boycott the elections if the government made any changes to the current election law.
The opposition had also planned to hold a seminar every Monday to preempt government attempts to make changes to the said law.
The Minister had reportedly issued the earlier statement during an interview with the Al-Arabiya satellite TV channel.
During the interview the minister had denounced the opposition MPs for accusing the government of planning to make changes to the election law by amending the number of constituencies or reducing the number of votes for a voter from the current four to two or even one vote. He had called the accusations ‘baseless’.
Sheikh Abdullah had allegedly said, “In my personal opinion in the Cabinet that the 2009 Parliament should be constitutionally enabled to perform its role and hold a session. This is important for the implementation of the Constitutional Court ruling.”
Sheikh Abdullah said he still maintains there are reasons to dissolve the 2009 Parliament.
Following this statement Al-Sultan had said the government rescued itself from eminent trouble because the Information Minister has announced that the 2009 Parliament can be dissolved and that the right method for any amendment should be through presenting the government proposal to the Parliament.
On his Twitter account, Al-Sultan has urged the government to announce from now its commitment for ‘free and fair’ elections.
He said the government should make arrangements to prevent the use of political money as we have seen in the past elections. The culprits are people who call themselves patriots.
Al-Sultan suggested if necessary a decree should be issued to establish an independent election commission to supervise the next elections with the power to curb the use of political money and prevent interference from any agency.
On the other hand, former liberal MP from the dissolved Parliament, Nabil Al-Fadil in response to the Information Minister’s announcement, suggested it is better for the government to endorse the majority to secure their seats in the next Parliament without the need for them contest the elections.
He added, “The election should be run only for the seats of the minority so that they can accomplish their democratic dream.”
In another development, Popular Democratic Movement has issued a statement demanding the dissolution of 2009 Parliament.
The movement demanded this Parliament which was politically and popularly brought down should be dissolved sooner than later without giving it an opportunity to hold a session regardless of the excuses and reasons to determine its fate.
Any delay or attempt to tamper with the people’s will or to change the number of constituencies or votes will lead to unwanted circumstances and will drag us further into the unknown.
The movement called on all patriotic citizens to put aside unimportant issues and work to protect the Constitution and turn the nation into an elected and popular government.
The movement also laid down many demands including promotion of democracy and the concept of trade unions.
It added all public and private institutions should have a workers union that cares for the rights of workers and their duties, legalizing political parties, independence of the judiciary, resolving the problem of borrowers and open commissions of inquiry with banks, ensure free education and health as required by the Constitution.
In a related issue, former MP Hamad Al-Matar has criticized the Editor-in-Chief of the Al-Seyassah newspaper Ahmed Al-Jarallah who had recently stated that a decision has already been taken to either change the election districts and/or reduce the number of votes for each citizen in the best interests of national security.
Al-Matar said after the statement made by Al-Jarallah the change in the election constituencies is surely coming. “I also wish Al-Jarallah endorses the names of the next Cabinet members and tell us what next steps should be taken.”
Al-Matar also attacked the constitutional expert Mohammed Al-Moqatei who has said the current five constituency system is unconstitutional and violates Article No 108 of the Constitution.
Al-Matar addressing Al-Moqatei asked: “Where were you when the voting and the constituencies system were being tampered with? Will you consider that if an emergency decree is issued in this regard?”
