“Opener” assembly for April 21 MP Legislators were invited to the new Assembly’s opening on Sunday, April 21, by Saleh Ashour, the second-oldest lawmaker in the National Assembly and the person who will preside over the house’s inaugural session. Ashour claimed that after the Assembly’s secretariat reached out to the 90-year-old oldest member, former speaker Ahmad Al-Saadoun, to chair the inaugural session, Al-Saadoun apologized because he intended to run for the speaker’s position.

According to him, this made Ashour the official lawmaker in charge of presiding over the first session. Ashour stated that the previous decree, which had the opening session scheduled for April 17, had become obsolete after HH the Amir Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah issued a decree delaying the opening session to May 14. Since no government has been formed and an Assembly session cannot take place without the presence of at least one Cabinet minister, the opening session is anticipated to be purely ceremonial.

Article 87 of the constitution, which stipulates that the inauguration of the new Assembly must take place within two weeks of announcing the results of the election, is what sparked the controversy when an Amiri decree was issued inviting MPs to an opening session on April 17. However, later on, HH the Amir made use of his constitutional powers in line with article 106, which permits him to adjourn Assembly sessions for a maximum of one month.

The offer to form the new Cabinet was turned down by acting prime minister HH Sheikh Dr. Mohammad Sabah Al-Salem Al-Sabah, prompting the postponement. Sheikh Ahmad Al-Abdullah Al-Sabah was later appointed by HH the Amir to head the new administration.

Following the release of documents by MP Shuaib Al-Muwaizri that purportedly showed the government had decided to raise fuel prices by 25%, government spokesman Amer Al-Ajmi reiterated on Tuesday that no decision had been made to raise fuel prices. Ajmi reaffirmed that the ministerial committee in charge of looking into price increases and subsidies had been given the whole matter back.

Muwaizri had declared on Monday that the government had decided to increase gas prices. Ajmi quickly refuted the report, stating that more research was needed on the matter. After that, Muwaizri showed documents claiming to be from the Cabinet and demonstrating that a decision had been made. The government spokesman refuted this claim once more.