Hawks are pressing for wide-ranging constitutional reforms including a popular government and a constitutional monarchy, while doves are prepared for minimal reforms and are deadly against the proposed constitutional monarchy and a popular government.
The divisions within the majority bloc comprising 35 members of the scrapped 2012 National Assembly surfaced following the first gathering and after leading youth activists publicly criticized the opposition for its limited and weak demands they made in a joint statement that totally ignored reforms.
Independent member of the 2012 assembly Faisal Al-Yahya explicitly admitted that there are “differences of opinion” among the majority bloc, adding that seeking its unity should not come at the expense of the required reforms.
Yahya, who was backed by youth activists, said in a statement that the ongoing political dilemma in the country is the result of a very deep crisis because the regime does not want to comply with the constitutional system.
“As a result, we are required today more than any time before to search for the root cause of the crisis in order to find the right remedy,” said Yahya, adding that he firmly believes that “the gateway to the treatment is by opening the comprehensive reforms file”.
Leading opposition MP Musallam Al-Barrak said the political situation requires a very clear political program that spills out all the reforms.
He said that he will start contacts with members of the majority bloc to convene a meeting to adopt a well-defined political program that includes all reforms and to which all members must comply strictly. Barrak said the program must include the demand for a constitutional monarchy which does not mean overthrowing the regime.
Opposition MP Faisal Al-Mislem proposed that a joint committee of youth activists and members of the opposition should be formed to take the proposed reforms to the Amir.
In a joint statement issued at the first Monday diwaniya gathering, the majority bloc called for quickly dissolving the 2009 Assembly which was revived in a historical court ruling last month and warned against any changes to the election law or the voting system.
The bloc also declared its “total rejection of attempts to revive the dissolved (2009) Assembly by inviting it to hold sessions under unfounded constitutional pretexts”.
The statement demanded that official procedures must be swiftly taken to end “the legal existence of the dissolved Assembly” and that fresh elections must be held within the legal duration stipulated by the constitution.
The opposition also insisted that fresh assembly elections must be held in accordance with the existing electoral law and the five constituency and voting system and rejected any attempt to change the system through an Amiri decree or through the 2009 Assembly “which has lost its legitimacy”.
It also called on the government to provide serious guarantees to ensure that fair elections will be held and that no attempt will be made to influence its outcome.
The opposition statement however did not include the threat many opposition figures have made – to boycott the forthcoming elections if the electoral law or voting system are changed.
It appears that the opposition has so far failed to obtain consensus among the 35 former MPs over this sensitive issue, especially that Salafi Islamists and some independents have openly supported increasing the number of electoral districts to 10 from five currently and to reduce the number of candidates that a voter can elect from four now to two in the proposed system.
The Popular Action Bloc, the Islamic Constitutional Movement and several independent MPs and former MPs within the opposition however strongly favour boycotting the election if the electoral law and voting systems are changed.
At the opposition gathering, speakers warned that any change to the electoral law outside a legitimate Assembly amounts to a coup against the constitution.
“This gathering is to confront a grave event as some quarters are pushing to amend the electoral constituencies and the voting system and if this happens, it amounts to a coup against the constitution,” former Islamist MP Abdullatif Al-Ameeri said.
Member of the 2012 Assembly Nayef Al-Merdas said what adds to the suspicion is the fact that the government has remained silent and failed to issue any statement to clarify its position.
Another 2012 member Osama Al-Menawer said Kuwait is passing through a constitutional vacuum and the government must quickly approve the decree to dissolve the 2009 Assembly, which was brought down under pressure from the people.
