Kuwait Formally Dissolves Parliament, Delays Budget Approval until after Elections

A view shows the first parliament session held after elections, in Kuwait City, Kuwait December 15, 2020. (Reuters)
A view shows the first parliament session held after elections, in Kuwait City, Kuwait December 15, 2020. (Reuters)
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Kuwait Formally Dissolves Parliament, Delays Budget Approval until after Elections

A view shows the first parliament session held after elections, in Kuwait City, Kuwait December 15, 2020. (Reuters)
A view shows the first parliament session held after elections, in Kuwait City, Kuwait December 15, 2020. (Reuters)

Kuwait formally dissolved parliament in a decree issued on Tuesday, state news agency KUNA said, as the Gulf Arab state's crown prince moved to resolve a standoff between the government and elected parliament that has hindered fiscal reform.

Last month Crown Prince Sheikh Meshal al-Ahmad al-Sabah, who took over most of the ruling emir's duties, said he was dissolving parliament and would call for early elections. On Monday he approved a cabinet headed by a new prime minister.

"To rectify the political scene, the lack of harmony and cooperation ... and behavior that undermines national unity, it was necessary to resort to the people...to rectify the path," Sheikh Meshal said in the decree dissolving parliament.

Parliament had not yet approved the state budget. Finance Minister Abdul Wahab al-Rasheed said on Tuesday the budget for fiscal year 2022/2023 would be approved after the elections, for which no date has been set yet, and that the government would continue to work according to the 2021/2022 budget.

Al-Rasheed said in a statement the next budget, which had to be approved before November, had set spending at 23.65 billion dinars ($77.24 billion) compared with 23.48 billion in the 2021/2022 budget.

The previous government resigned in April ahead of a non-cooperation motion in parliament against Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah al-Khalid, who late last month was replaced as premier by the current emir's son Sheikh Ahmad Nawaf al-Sabah.

Stalemates between Kuwait's government and parliament have often led to cabinet reshuffles and dissolutions of the legislature over the decades, hampering investment and reforms. The last time parliament was dissolved was in 2016.



Qatar Urges Israel, Hamas to Seize ‘Window of Opportunity’ for Gaza Truce

Smoke billows after an Israeli strike on Gaza City on June 28, 2025, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
Smoke billows after an Israeli strike on Gaza City on June 28, 2025, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
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Qatar Urges Israel, Hamas to Seize ‘Window of Opportunity’ for Gaza Truce

Smoke billows after an Israeli strike on Gaza City on June 28, 2025, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)
Smoke billows after an Israeli strike on Gaza City on June 28, 2025, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas. (Photo by Omar AL-QATTAA / AFP)

Gaza mediators are engaging with Israel and Hamas to build on momentum from this week’s ceasefire with Iran and work towards a truce in the Palestinian territory, Qatar foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari said.

In an interview with AFP on Friday, Ansari said Doha -- with fellow Gaza mediators in Washington and Cairo -- was now “trying to use the momentum that was created by the ceasefire between Iran and Israel to restart the talks over Gaza.”

“If we don’t utilize this window of opportunity and this momentum, it’s an opportunity lost amongst many in the near past. We don’t want to see that again,” the spokesman, who is also an adviser to Qatar’s prime minister, said.

US President Donald Trump voiced optimism on Friday about a new ceasefire in Gaza saying an agreement involving Israel and Hamas could come as early as next week.

Mediators have been engaged in months of back-and-forth negotiations with the warring parties aimed at ending 20 months of war in Gaza, with Ansari explaining there were no current talks between the sides but that Qatar was “heavily involved in talking to every side separately.”

A two-month truce, which was agreed as Trump came into office in January, collapsed in March with Israel intensifying military operations in Gaza afterwards.

“We have seen US pressure and what it can accomplish,” Ansari said referring to the January truce which saw dozens of hostages held by Hamas released in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.

The Qatari official said particularly in the context of US enforcement of the Israel-Iran truce, it was “not a far-fetched idea” that pressure from Washington would achieve a fresh truce in Gaza.

“We are working with them very, very closely to make sure that the right pressure is applied from the international community as a whole, especially from the US, to see both parties at the negotiating table,” Ansari said.