The Amir told the new government to strengthen the principle of respecting the constitution and apply the law firmly on all. The new cabinet then held its first meeting and HH the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah pledged that the government will cooperate with the National Assembly at this critical stage in the country.
New MPs welcomed the government and said they will extend their hands for cooperation with it in order to push development and apply the law. Opposition figures and former MPs however strongly lashed out at the government, insisting they will continue to work towards bringing down the National Assembly and scrapping the amendment to the electoral law. Meanwhile, three more challenges against the election were field yesterday to the constitutional court calling to declare the election illegal and for scrapping the new National Assembly and the one-vote decree.
Two challenges were filed by lawyers Dokhi Al-Hasban, Mohammad Al-Enezi, Mohammad Al-Hamdan and Hadi Al-Ajmi who challenged that the National Assembly election on December 1 were illegal and demanded that the National Assembly be dissolved. The challenges were based on the claim that four decrees issued by the Amir to amend the electoral law and invite the voters to elect a new assembly have breached the constitution.
The lawyers also disputed the right of any authority other than a correctly elected National Assembly to amend the electoral constituency law, insisting that the law that was passed by the National Assembly in 2006 is the only constitutional law for election. They also appealed to the court to speed up issuing its verdicts on the issue in order to help the country come out of the current political impasse. A similar challenge was also submitted yesterday by former liberal MP Aseel Al-Awadhi.
Since the announcement of the election results, several petitions challenging the election and the amendment of the electoral law have been field but the constitutional court could take several months to issue its verdict on the controversial matter. With just three days remaining for the inaugural session of the new assembly, the opposition activists appear not in a total agreement whether to camp the night at the Al-Erada Square ahead of the opening or just to gather in the same site on Sunday.
Organizers of the event reiterated on their Twitter Account they will hold the sleep-in event on Saturday night in protest against the National Assembly which they consider as illegitimate. These activists yesterday received a major boost from former MP Mussallam Al-Barrak who supported their move and said he is prepared to be the first to camp at the square. But another group, supported by former MP Waleed Al-Tabtabai pointed out that it was better to gather on the day of the opening to send the rejection message.
