The National Assembly failed to meet yesterday for the second week in a row as the overwhelming majority of MPs again boycotted the meeting called after the assembly was given a new life by a court order in June. Speaker Jassem Al-Khorafi, three other MPs-Adel Al-Saraawi, Abdullah Al-Roumi and Marzouk Al-Ghanem-and several cabinet ministers showed up for the session, way short of the quorum needed for the session to be legal.

Khorafi said he will not call for a third meeting because it is evident that the assembly will not be able to convene and that he will refer the issue to HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah during the weekly protocol meeting on Sunday. The speaker said “we will await for the Amir directives” on the issue.

But Khorafi insisted that the 2009 assembly will continue for now until a new measure is taken, adding that it cannot go summer recess before approving the budget for the current 2012/2013 fiscal year which started on April 1. Under Kuwaiti law, the National Assembly cannot close the term before passing the fiscal year’s budget. The constitutional court on June 20 nullified the February legislative polls, scrapping the opposition-dominated assembly and reinstating the pro-government 2009 assembly.

In response to a question if the budget can be passed by a decree, Khorafi insisted that the government cannot issue the so-called “emergency decrees” without dissolving the National Assembly. “Emergency decrees” are laws recommended by the government and issued by the Amir in the absence of the National Assembly either on summer recess or through dissolution. Such decrees must be presented to the National Assembly at its first meeting and the assembly has the right to approve or reject such decrees.

The new development came as the opposition majority bloc was awaiting the government’s final decision on whether it will refer the electoral law to the constitutional court or not. The government on Monday delayed a decision on the issue until next week amid reports that the government is inclined for the move that has been strongly rejected by the opposition which has threatened street rallies in protest. Opposition youth activists have reportedly decided to stage rallies at the square opposite the National Assembly building and that a number of the activists might camp there.

The opposition has insisted that any change to the electoral law or the voting system must be debated and approved by the next National Assembly and that the constitutional court should not be involved in the ongoing political dispute. Several opposition MPs have warned that the cost of the government decision on the electoral law and voting system “will be very high” and that it may drag the country into a dark tunnel.