LOC17:52
14:52 GMT
KUWAIT, June 16 (KUNA) -- The Kuwait's Supreme Constitutional Court on
Sunday annulled the current parliament, elected in December 2012, while
upholding the new one-voter, one-vote electoral system.
The court, headed by Judge Yusuf Al-Mutawaa, ruled the law No 21 of 2012 on
the formation of the Higher Election Commission, which supervised the
electoral process, and the amendments of law No 35 of 1962 were
unconstitutional.
Thus, the top court ordered the annulment of the incumbent parliament and
the organization of new parliamentary elections in two-month period.
In another related case, the court rebuffed a challenge to law No 20 of
2012 which included amendments to law No. 42 of 2006 which brought a
one-person, one-vote system in place of the former rules that allowed voters
to cast ballots for four candidates.
The opposition has challenged law, claiming that the government's decree to
amend law No 20 of 2012 and introduce new voting system six weeks before the
elections were unconstitutional.
In its verdict, the Supreme Court said that the government is entitled to
amend the law on voting system to achieve the higher interests of the state.
The one-voter, one-vote system is applied in several democratic countries
to fair representation to minorities, said the court, adding that the new
system guarantees equality among all citizens.
The court, however, underlined that the parliament has full rights to amend
the voting system if it opted to do so in accordance with relevant
constitutional provisions. (end)
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KUNA 161752 Jun 13NNNN