KUWAIT CITY: Kuwait’s prime minister on Wednesday narrowly survived a parliament vote seen as a serious bid to oust him, but the opposition vowed to keep up its campaign to unseat him.
Twenty-five MPs voted in support of Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Mohammad Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, a nephew of the Gulf state’s ruler, while 22 were against him and one abstained, speaker Jassem Al-Khorafi said.
"In accordance with the constitution, parliament reaffirms its confidence and cooperation with the prime minister," Khorafi said after a three-hour session held behind closed doors.
The motion of "non-cooperation" was filed on December 28 by opposition lawmakers who accused the premier of breaching the constitution and suppressing freedoms.
It fell short of the 25 votes needed to be passed in the 50-seat assembly, with one MP unable to vote because he is a minister and another absent outside the country.
The vote was the second time in just over a year that a non-cooperation motion has been defeated in the parliament of Kuwait, the OPEC oil cartel’s fifth largest producer.
But opposition MPs said afterwards that they would not deal with a government headed by Sheikh Nasser, a senior member of the Al-Sabah ruling family, and vowed to bring it down.
"Today is the beginning… We will continue to work to bring about the downfall of this government through the streets," opposition MP Mussallam Al-Barrak said after the vote.
Speaking to reporters outside the parliament, Islamist MP Jamaan Al-Harbash said the "crisis will only end when this government reaches its end.
"It’s not possible for MPs to deal with a government that has humiliated the Kuwaiti people," Harbash said.
Opposition lawmakers had filed the motion after quizzing the prime minister following a crackdown by riot police to disperse a public gathering in which four MPs and a dozen citizens were injured on December 8.
The opposition MPs — representing Islamists, liberals, nationalists and tribes — have accused Sheikh Nasser, 70, of ordering the police action and attempting to stifle public freedoms.
They organised a massive rally on Tuesday night at which prominent MPs vowed to work towards bringing down the government. They also decided to gather each week to pressure the premier into resigning.
Security was beefed up around the parliament complex in Kuwait City on Wednesday, with hundreds of policemen controlling the main roads leading to the building.
Kuwait, which sits on 10 percent of proven oil reserves and has assets estimated at 300 billion dollars, has been rocked with almost non-stop political conflicts since Sheikh Nasser was appointed in February 2006.
During this period, parliament was dissolved three times and fresh elections were held and Sheikh Nasser, resigned five times, stalling development projects in the process.
Kuwaiti newspapers and writers warned Wednesday that the current crisis was the most serious in the country’s modern history.
