NEW YORK, Sept 1 (KUNA) -- National Assembly Speaker Marzouq Ali Al-Ghanim on Tuesday urged the UN to continue its ethical role for enhancing values of democracy, as a culture and in practice.
Once the international community instills such noble values in world countries, there will be no fears over the ballot box, whatever adventurers do to drive democracy out of its sound track, Al-Ghanim said in his address to the Fourth World Conference of Speakers of Parliament that kicked off in New York yesterday.
He stressed how democracy is vital for consolidating concepts of co-existence and tolerance in different communities. Al-Ghanim referred to Kuwait's relevant experience which helped the country overcome the hardest conditions.
Thanks to its long history of Shura, democracy and values of coexistence and religious tolerance, Kuwait has managed to counter "heinous sedition" on all levels, starting from His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah to each and every citizen.
Kuwaitis have been keen at several points in history to achieve a balance for guaranteeing a true democratic system that would not turn into an abuse to the concept of democracy itself, he stressed.
Speaker Al-Ghanim warned against those who abused democracy and use ballot boxes to tarnish the democratic process.
He called on the UN to play a "moral role" to boost values, culture and practice of democracy, as well as promoting equality, good governance, rule of law, political, cultural and social tolerance, in addition to co-existence.
Al-Ghanim said there would always be genuine democratic people who would abort all bids to create chaos.
"When I speak about tolerance and co-existence, I recalled the terrorist attack against one of the mosques in my country in a bid to drag the country to sectarian sedition ...," he said.
However, he underlined, Kuwait demonstrated an example of religious and sectarian harmony which aborted the sedition.
"We believe that democracy is not just an option ... It is our destiny and we are determined to continue with this path for the sake of the next generations," he said. (end) mao.bs