2024-03-03 14:28:14
Kuwait will hold parliamentary elections on April 4, the Associated Press reported, citing a decree published in the official gazette of the oil-rich country, BTA reports.
In February, the Kuwaiti emir dissolved parliament after one of the deputies insulted him.
For years, Kuwait has been mired in domestic political disputes, including over an overhaul of the Kuwaiti welfare system, which has hampered the assumption of national debt. This leaves little money in the treasury to pay bloated public sector salaries despite the huge wealth the country generates from its oil reserves.
Due to the unstable political situation in recent years, the parliament has been dissolved many times.
Kuwait, which has a population of about 4.2 million people, has the sixth largest oil reserves in the world.
The country has been a staunch ally of the US since Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi occupation forces were driven out in the 1991 Persian Gulf War. There are currently about 13,500 US military personnel in Kuwait and the US military’s top headquarters in the Middle East.