The new cabinet will likely be announced within the next few days, possibly at the mid-week, to signal the start of the constitutional process to re-dissolve the 2009 national assembly and call for fresh elections.

The cabinet under Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah resigned on June 25 and Sheikh Jaber was reappointed by the Amir to form the new cabinet about 10 days later.

The new cabinet is highly expected to retain almost the same ministers with a few additions because the government will be temporary to manage the forthcoming parliamentary elections, as under Kuwaiti law the cabinet must resign after each parliamentary polls.

Based on previous statements, as soon as the new cabinet is sworn in by the Amir, the 2009 assembly, which was reinstated by a constitutional court ruling, last month, will be called to hold regular meetings.

But the assembly is not expected to meet because a majority of its members have publicly said they will not attend because they know that the government will recommend dissolving it after just one session.

Assembly speaker Jassem Al-Khorafi said that if MPs do not attend the session, he will invite them again and if they don’t attend he will refer the issue to the Amir who is expected to dissolve the house.

But the timing of the next election is not yet fixed. Most scenarios indicate that the election will be held by the beginning of October, while few others said it might be held in early November.

The timing of the new elections depends on when the 2009 assembly is going to be dissolved as under the Kuwaiti constitution, new election must be held within 60 days of dissolving the assembly.

The opposition majority bloc meanwhile has reiterated its warnings to the government against any attempt to change the electoral districts or the voting system both of which need new legislation to change.

The bloc is also scheduled to hold the second of its “Monday diwaniya” public gatherings and is expected to announced the bloc’s reform programme which includes calling for a constitutional monarchy, an elected government, a single electoral district and a host of other democratic reforms.

The meeting was moved from Jahra to the diwaniya of opposition leader and former speaker Ahmad Al-Saadoun, an indication of the importance the opposition attaches to the declaration.

The reform programme was discussed after a number of youth activist groups warned the opposition that it will not back them during the election if they did not fully commit to the wide-ranging reforms.

Saadoun and several opposition MPs met with about 60 youth activists on Saturday night to approve the reforms that will offered to the rest of the opposition candidates to approve.

The opposition efforts to come up with a reform programme was slightly undermined by an announcement by a section of the Islamist Salaf group that they do not approve of the constitutional monarchy, an elected government and a single constituency.

The announcement forced a number of prominent Salaf figures, like MP Khaled Al-Sultan, to reiterate their commitment to the reforms, thus creating a rift in the Salafists ranks.

A large number of opposition members of the scrapped 2012 assembly have reiterated their firm commitments to the reforms proposed by the youth groups.