“The government is fully ready to deal with any unexpected developments, especially following the calls for civil disobedience,” sources told local Arabic daily Al Watan.
“The decisions issued recently by the Civil Service Commission require compliance by all public sector employees in order to avoid punitive action. All employees are required to remain committed to their work and not to display any loyalty to any political movement during the working hours,” the sources said.
The government is ready to tackle any form of civil disobedience thanks to the well-trained staff who are ready to fill jobs, if need be, the sources said.
The government’s readiness pledge was announced as Kuwait is bracing itself for a crucial week following the five-day Eid break.
Confusion gripped the nation last week when police and demonstrators clashed during a rally to protest a decision to amend the electoral law and reduce the number of candidates a voter can elect from four to one.
The government said that it wanted a fair representation of the people through the international “one voter, one vote” principle. Supporters said that the four vote possibility consolidated the “scratch my back, I scratch yours” principle that allowed larger groups and tribes to dominate the parliament and the political scene.
However, the opposition said that the amendment aimed to reinforce the power of the government and to reduce the influence of the opposition by bringing in more compliant parliaments.
The opposition, building on its success last year in using street pressure to force the resignation of the government and the dissolution of the controversial parliament elected in 2009, has called for public rallies to have the amendment reversed.
Last week’s clashes resulted in several injuries among the demonstrators and the police and in the abandonment of the rally.
Social networks said that a new rally would be held on November 4, but no party or group has endorsed the call.
According to Al Watan sources, the government is going ahead with its preparations for the parliamentary elections on December 1.
“The decree calling for the elections will be issued on Tuesday by the cabinet and the registration process will start on Wednesday and will last ten days. There is no change to the December 1 Elections Day,” the sources said. “The government will also announce the names of the nine-member National Commission for the Elections.”
As the government and the opposition move ahead with their plans, former lawmakers have engaged in a bitter war of words through statements and Twitter accounts, accusing one another of twisting facts and figures to their advantage.
A few people said that they would run for parliament, while others said that they would wait to see the new developments this week.
The power of the tribes seemed to play a crucial role in the decision to boycott or take part in the elections and many parliament hopefuls said that they would announce their final stance after the tribe issues its final position towards the national polls.
