The opposition blocs intend to support members who debuted in the 2012 Parliament by allowing them to run as part of 'lists' in the upcoming elections, a member from the annulled parliament said in a statement on Friday. “There is an agreement among majority bloc members to open the door to legislators who had little chance to work in the [2012 parliament] by participating in the bloc’s election lists,” said Ammar Al-Ajmi, rapporteur of the coordination committee for the bloc that represents the coalition of 35 oppositionists. Leading opposition bloc members Dr Faisal Al-Mislem had announced earlier that it plans to compete in each of the country’s five constituencies, while nominating four candidates.

Former legislator Mohammad Al-Khalifa indicated that the opposition will run a ‘political and reform campaign’ as opposed to an election campaign. “The majority bloc looks to realize this program regardless of whether it reflects positively or negatively on members’ election victory chances,” Al-Khalifa said.
The parliament that swore-in last February was annulled when the Constitutional Court passed a verdict a couple of weeks ago ruling the dissolution of the 2009 parliament last December as being unconstitutional, requiring the former parliament to be reinstated.

The ruling was not welcomed by the opposition who played a major rule in the public pressure that forced then prime minister Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Sabah to resign last November, and the subsequent dissolution of the pro-government dominated parliament. In addition, Riyadh Al-Adasani, an independent MP in the 2012 parliament, said that the 2009 parliament “failed publically and politically especially after many members made it clear that they do not wish to attend any session.”

It is projected that the 2009 parliament will hold at least one session to allow the to-be-formed Cabinet to swear-in before lawmakers pass a dissolution decree constitutionally. It is not certain whether the Parliament will be able to convene with many lawmakers planning to boycott a session held as a prelude. The concept suggests that a lack of quorum provides an excuse to the Cabinet to file a no- cooperation movement, remaining a debatable issue despite the fact that some constitutional experts say that this step is legally valid.

On the other hand, pro-government MP Faisal Al-Duwaisan said that the opposition “deliberately seeks to clash with the government in order to achieve popularity that boosted their chances during elections,” arguing that the government “has learned its lesson on avoiding this pitfall,” reported Al-Qabas. But Khalid Al-Sultan, a veteran oppositionist and deputy speaker of the 2012 parliament believes that the if the bloc really sought conflict with the government, it would have pressed to remove all operational procedures from the Constitutional Court’s verdict.

“However, we accepted the status quo and only made a statement about our opinion,” he said on Friday. Al-Sultan also criticized an incident in which a person made derogatory remarks against a state figure during a public demonstration at the Iradah Square last Tuesday. MP Dr Waleed Al-Tabtabaei told Al-Rai that Prime Minister HH Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah “is going to be assigned Monday to form a new Cabinet which is expected to be ready within a couple of weeks,” reported Al-Rai.