KUWAIT — Kuwait will hold its sixth parliamentary election in seven years on July 25, a snap vote ordered by its top court after the current assembly was dissolved earlier this week in another sign of political turmoil in the Gulf Arab state. Almost constant factional infighting and disarray has stalled infrastructure development and held up economic reforms in Kuwait, an important oil producer. On Sunday opposition supporters lost a legal fight to undo changes to the voting system they said favor pro-government candidates — a dispute which aggravated political tensions. The Constitutional Court however found fault in the process leading up to the last elections in December and ordered a new ballot for the 50-member assembly. “At an extraordinary meeting held today, the cabinet approved a draft decree inviting voters to elect members of the National Assembly on July 25,” the state news agency KUNA quoted Minister for Cabinet Affairs Sheikh Mohammad Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah as saying Thursday. Opposition politicians boycotted the last election in December in protest at changes to the voting system decreed by Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah six weeks beforehand. They said the changes made it more difficult to form alliances in a country that bans political parties. The government says the new rules brought Kuwait's system in line with voting systems used elsewhere in the world. – Reuters
