Parliaments typically don’t serve out their full terms in the stalwart US ally, but lawmakers elected in Kuwait’s last election in 2013 sided with the government as they served in the wake of Arab uprisings.
But the rise of Daesh (ISIL) and the drop in global oil prices have caused growing concerns in this major OPEC member.
Kuwait’s state-run television station and its news agency announced the parliament dissolving Sunday afternoon, just a few hours after government officials held an emergency meeting. The Cabinet was expected to resign, as those sitting on the 12-member board also likely will be contesting their parliamentary seats. A caretaker government was expected to be announced in the coming hours.
In his decree, Kuwait’s ruling Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah said “regional circumstances” and “security challenges” required dissolving parliament.
This “necessitates resorting to the people, the source of authority, to choose their representatives who express their aspirations ... in facing these challenges,” Sheikh Sabah’s decree read, according to AFP.
Kuwait has faced the threat of militant attacks since the rise of Daesh. A Daesh-claimed suicide bombing in 2015 targeting a Shiite mosque in Kuwait City killed 27 people and wounded scores. On Oct. 8, an Egyptian driving a garbage truck loaded with explosives and Daesh-linked papers rammed into a truck carrying five US soldiers in Kuwait, wounding only himself in the attack.
Earlier Kuwaiti news reports speculating about the government dissolving focused entirely on economic issues.
The price of oil has been halved from heights of over $100 a barrel in the summer of 2014. Government-subsidized gasoline prices have been raised and other benefits have been cut, leading to growing dissent.