BBC News, 20
June 2013
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| Changes to Kuwait's election law led to protests |
The
decision was approved at an emergency meeting of the cabinet.
The
Constitutional Court last week scrapped the parliament on procedural grounds
and also threw out opposition challenges to the electoral system.
The
opposition had boycotted general elections in December in protest at the rules
decreed by the emir.
It was the
secondtime in a year that the court has ordered the dissolution of parliament
in the oil-rich Gulf state.
Last June
it scrapped an opposition-dominated parliament, saying there had been flaws in
the process that led to its election.
Mass
protests
"At an
extraordinary meeting... the cabinet approved a draft decree setting 25 July as
the date for parliamentary elections," Cabinet Minister Sheikh Mohammad
al-Mubarak al-Sabah told Kuwait's state-run Kuna news agency on Thursday.
The decree
will now be officially issued by Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmed al-Jaber al-Sabah.
The snap
elections were widely expected, following the Constitutional Court ruling.
The court
also upheld new voting rules that allowed each voter to choose just one
candidate at the ballot box - down from four previously.
The changes
were decreed six weeks before December's poll, and led to mass protests.
Opponents
had argued that the reform was designed to weaken the opposition.
The
government says the new system has brought Kuwait into line with other
countries.
Kuwait's
parliament has lawmaking powers and can hold government ministers to account.
However,
the emir has the final say in matters of state. He also chooses the prime
minister, who in turn picks a cabinet, with members of the ruling al-Sabah
family occupying the top posts.
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