The opposition majority bloc in Kuwait yesterday announced the long-awaited program which it described as a “declaration for the nation” pledging to forge major legislative and constitutional reforms that would eventually transform Kuwait into a full parliamentary system. Reading the document after a huge gathering at the diwaniya of speaker of the scrapped assembly Ahmad Al-Saadoun, member of the 2012 assembly Mohammad Al-Dallal said the opposition has agreed on the program that would immediately require a majority government.

The program calls for giving the majority of the cabinet seats to the group that controls the majority in the National Assembly as a prelude to the future for a multi-party system. The opposition also pledged to pass laws on anti-corruption, reforming and regulating the judiciary, legalizing political parties, transforming Kuwait into a single electoral constituency and establishing an independent election commission.

The opposition pledged that it will submit the necessary laws to amend several articles in the constitution to achieve the full-fledged parliamentary system which must be formed by the party that wins the election. Other amendments include requiring the new government to seek confidence from the assembly, not requiring the government attendance in parliamentary sessions, only elected members will be allowed to vote and others.

Speakers at the gathering also sent important messages to the government. Former opposition MP Mohammad Al-Khalifa warned that the opposition will boycott the forthcoming elections if the government changed the voting system and “will start peaceful protests”. Addressing the ruling family, Khalifa said that some of them are saying that late Amir Sheikh Abdullah Al-Salem reduced their powers by introducing the constitution but “I say that he protected you”.

Khalfia said that to achieve social and political justice, there should be a single constituency where all Kuwaiti voters have equal rights, adding that Kuwait is protected from the Arab Spring protests by the 1962 constitution. A member of the scrapped 2012 assembly, Faisal Al-Yahya said that after 50 years of issuing the constitution, it had not been fully implemented. He said that Kuwait is at an important juncture that requires a civilized transformation to adopt a full parliamentary system and an elected government.

“I tell the decision-making Sheikhs that the governance is yours and the supremacy is for the people who are the source of the authority,” said Yahya, adding that there are attempts to dismantle the state institutions. “I tell the regime that you have forged parliamentary elections, dissolved parliament on several occasions and paid bribes. Isn’t it time to make a compromise with the constitution?” he said.

Yahya held senior members of the ruling family responsible for the deterioration of the country’s affairs. He called for the ruling family to strike a “compromise with the people who are very loyal to you. We are not against the ruling family, but against total control”. Earlier, the liberal National Action Bloc issued what they called a “national salvation document” in which they urged wide-ranging reforms with regards to the National Assembly, the government and in the country’s democracy but fell short of calling for a constitutional monarchy.

In its document, the bloc, which has five MPs in the National Assembly, called on the next National Assembly to swiftly pass anti-corruption laws especially the establishment of a corruption fighting authority. It also called for establishing an ethics committee in the National Assembly that would monitor the practices of MPs, urged passing a law to legalize political parties in Kuwait and laws to amend the election law, set up an independent election commission and to organize election campaign and funding.

The document called for issuing laws that would guarantee more independence for the judiciary, laws for human rights, forbidding hatred and consolidating national unity, in addition to economic and administrative reform laws to liberalize the national economy. The bloc said that amendments to the constitution need a consensus between MPs and the Amir, which is not available now. With regards to the government, the document called for changing the parameters of selecting the cabinet members who should be true statesmen, adding that more popular participation should be achieved in the cabinet.