Work ongoing to push single constituency proposal

Several MPs are reportedly planning to submit parliamentary requests that the National Assembly's legislative and legal committee give its approval to draft legislation proposing the abolition of Kuwait's current five-constituency system, with the existing constituencies to be merged into one.

Advocates of the proposed system insist that it would be fairer, helping to eliminate several negative factors found in previous elections, including an imbalance in voter distribution across constituencies, as well as alleged vote-buying and tribal partisanship.

The supporters assert that eliminating these contentious practices would help to improve the nature of the democratic system overall. The Popular Action Bloc (PAB), which put forward the proposal, is currently actively seeking political backing from other MPs for the adoption of the one-constituency system in order to achieve a level of support that would ensure the legislation being passed when it put to a parliamentary vote.

The cabinet is expected to support the proposal, which would offer an additiona l assurance of its own neutrality in the electoral process and its wish to see justice done in voter distribution patterns, reported Al-Watan.

Meanwhile, several independent MPs have also spoken out in favor of the concept, expressing the opinion that the current voter distribution system across co nstituencies is unfair. In other parliamentary developments, meanwhile, MP Daifallah Buramya expressed "extreme disappointment" at what he said were conflicting government statements concerning the appointment of a chairman for the Public Authority for Youth and Sports (PAYS). He claimed that the current situation regarding this issue "exposes the cabin et's weakness and its inability to handle responsibility or implement its duties properly.

Buramya asserted that this flaw within the government's workings was exposed when the cabinet suspended a decision by the cabinet affairs minister to appoint seven undersecretaries at the Fatwa and Legislation Department, adding that its conflicting decisions damage public trust in this government. Meanwhile, Dr. Walid Al-Tabtabae has submitted a number of parliamentary questions to the Minister of Information and of Oil Sheikh Ahmad Al-Abdullah Al-Sabah, in which he enquired about the agreement recently s igned between Kuw ait and Iraq concerning the sharing of some border oilfields between the two countries.

He asked for details of the oilfields covered by the agreement, as well as requesting an explanation as to why the issue had not been discussed in parliament before approval was given, especially since it concerns the utilization of national natural resources. On a separate issue, MP Musallam Al-Barrak has submitted a number of parliamentary questions to the Minister of Cabinet Affairs Roudhan Al-Roudhan concerning a letter from the United Nations compensation committee concerning the $650,000 reportedly b eing given in compensation to nine individuals for damages sustained during the 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Al-Barrak also requested details of the individuals being compensated.

- Asian Tribune -