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Published Date: September 24, 2008

By B Izzak, Staff Writer

KUWAIT: Former MP Mohammad Al-Khalifa, who lost his seat in the May 17 elections from the fourth constituency, claimed yesterday that following the constitutional court ruling last week, he should be a member in the National Assembly, adding that he was considering legal action to claim his seat. Khalifa said in a statement that based on the ruling which scrapped the membership of Mubarak Al-Waalan and declared Askar Al-Enezi as winner, the number of votes secured by various candidates was changed.

Based on the verdict, Khalifa said he secured 9,066 votes which is higher than the tally obtained by current MP Hussein Al-Quwaiaan who came in 10th and last position with 8,394 votes. "It is thus clear that the final seat in the constituency should belong to the candidate who secured more votes and that is Mohammad Al-Khalifa" the statement said. Khalifa said he has assigned a number of legal experts to study legal procedures that can be taken to claim his right to the assembly seat.

The new development is the latest in a series of claims that cast doubts on the Constitutional Court ruling and the counting of votes during the election. Even Waalan s tally was higher than Quwaiaan according to the court s ruling, but a few votes lower than Khalifa s tally.

Before issuing its verdict, the court had reviewed the calculation of votes in the fourth and fifth constituencies and found some serious mathematical errors that led to stripping Waalan and former MP Abdullah Al-Ajmi of their seats. Former MP Saadoun Al-Oteibi, who was declared a looser at the time of the elections, was declared winner by the court, replacing Ajmi. The problem facing any legal moves is that rulings by the Constitutional Court are final and cannot be challenged. It was unclear how Khalifa would act to claim the seat.

A number of MPs have said they would call for forming a parliamentary committee to investigate counting of votes in all the five constituencies, but some legal experts said such a committee may not be in line with the constitution because revising vote counting is the authority of the judiciary.

Meanwhile, state minister of housing and administrative development Modhi Al-Humoud told the national assembly financial and economic affairs committee that the government will present to the assembly the state five-year plan before the start of the next term on October 21. Humoud said that the plan envisages investments worth KD 35 billion, about KD 26 billion of them in the first five years besides KD 3 billion for training of Kuwaiti employees. She said the plan envisages the construction of hospitals, schools, housing units and many infrastructure projects. The plan also includes 60 Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) projects.

Head of the committee MP Nasser Al-Sane praised efforts taken to prepare the plan but added that final judgment on it will be made only after it had been completed.

In a related development, HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah stressed the importance of development and carrying out mega projects in the country. Head of the National Assembly Budgets Committee MP Adnan Abdulsamad quoting the Amir as suggesting the establishment of an independent authority to oversee the implementation of mega projects and also to set up one body that should be entrusted in handling development plans.

The suggestions were made during a meeting between the Amir and members of the committee. It was attended by Minister of Commerce and Industry Ahmad Baqer. In the past two weeks, the Amir has been meeting assembly committees, urging for more cooperation between the government and the assembly.

Meanwhile, a proposed emergency meeting for the national assembly to discuss the slide of the bourse has been cancelled because only 22 MPs signed the request while the required number is 33. MP Mohammad Al-Mutair, who proposed the meeting, said that a large number of lawmakers were outside of the country, mostly in the holy city of Mecca performing Omrah during the Holy Month of Ramadan.

Source: http://www.kuwaittimes.net/read_news.php?newsid=MzcwNzU1ODQ1

Photo : http://travel.aolcdn.com/travdestguide/Kuwait-City-Kuwait_04-360a032507.jpg

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