KUWAIT: Crown Prince Sheikh Mishal Al Ahmed Al Jaber Al Sabah on Monday began routine consultations to name a prime minister after meeting with former parliament speakers Marzouk Al Ghanem and Ahmed Al Sadoon. The Crown Prince is also expected to meet with former Prime Ministers HH Sheikh Nasser Al Mohammed Al Ahmed Al Sabah and HH Sheikh Sabah Al Khalid Al Sabah as part of the constitutional consultations.

He is likely to meet with Prime Minister Sheikh Ahmed al-Nawaf al-Sabah, who is widely expected to be asked to form the next government that will handle the new opposition-dominated National Assembly. A new cabinet must be formed and the crown prince sworn in before the new assembly holds its inaugural session on October 11 to hear Amiri's speech and elect a new speaker.


Most of the new MPs have publicly announced that they will vote for the 87-year-old senior leader and former three-time speaker Sadoon as the next speaker. However, MPs are still at odds over the deputy speaker and are likely to meet informally in the coming days to coordinate ahead of the inaugural session. MP Mubarak Al Hajraf said that a draft law calling for an amnesty for all political prisoners and dissidents would be submitted on the inauguration day on Monday. MP Abdullah Fahad also said he would introduce a similar bill.

Meanwhile, the criminal court on Monday released newly elected MP Hamad Al Batali from prison to allow him to take the oath of office in the National Assembly. Batali and MP Marzooq Al Khalifa were elected in prison. The criminal court adjourned Batali's case till December 1 and asked the assembly to waive his immunity to try him on charges of participating in illegal tribal primary elections.


But the court rejected a request by Khalifa's lawyers to allow him to attend the inaugural session of the assembly. A criminal court had sentenced Khalifa and several men from his tribe to two years in prison for participating in the tribal primary elections. This judgment was upheld by the Court of Appeals and he challenged it, and its judgments are final. The Court of Cassation ordered his detention pending a verdict on October 10, a day before the opening session of the legislature.