KUWAIT CITY, July 3: The parliamentary Legislative and Legal Affairs Committee on Monday discussed the proposal to amend the Constitutional Court Law. Present at the meeting were Minister of Justice and State Minister for Housing Affairs Faleh Abdullah Eid Al-Raqabah, as well as academicians from the College of Law at Kuwait University and Kuwait International Law School.

The proposed amendment states that appeals against decrees of necessity and parliamentary elections should be filed and judged within 10 days of submission (before the elections). Rapporteur of the committee MP Muhannad Al-Sayer affirmed that the panel is keen on hearing the opinions of all concerned parties to guarantee the legality of the proposal and immediate completion of reports.

Meanwhile, MPs Fares Al-Otaibi, Abdullah Al- Anbai, Mubarak Al-Hajraf, Jarrah Al-Fawzan and Soud Al-Asfour have submitted a bill on amending Parliament Election Law No. 35/1962. The bill stipulates the cancellation of the second clause of Article Two: “Whoever is convicted of offending God, Prophets (Peace be Upon Them) or the Amiri entity is disqualified from running for the parliamentary elections and voting.” The bill adds a clause on assigning the Election Affairs General Department at the Ministry of Interior to include citizens, who reached 18 years old, on the voters list based on the address in their civil identification cards; in addition to including citizens who were disqualified as per the deleted clause.

The bill specifies a period of one week, starting from the publication of the law in Kuwait Gazette, for the Election Affairs General Department to implement it. MP Muhammad Al-Regaib and several of his colleagues submitted a proposal to allocate a part of the upcoming session for deliberation on the burning of a copy of the Holy Quran in Sweden. He disclosed that the discussion will focus on political and economic steps that should be taken regarding the incident. He added the proposal is in line with their commitment to religious principles.

On the other hand, MP Mubarak Al-Tasha asked Minister of Commerce and Industry and State Minister for Youth Affairs Muhammad Othman Al-Aiban if the Ministry of Commerce and Industry noticed the increase of prices in some restaurants and commodities during the Eid Al-Adha holiday. If yes, he requested for a list of restaurants and shopping malls, which increased the prices of their products and the delivery fees. He wants to know the action taken against these establishments. Al-Tasha also inquired if the ministry conducted studies to compare the prices in Kuwait and other Gulf countries. If yes, he demanded for copies of these studies.

Moreover, Parliament Speaker Ahmad Al-Sa’adoun sent cables to Speaker of the House of Representatives in Belarus Vladimir Andreichenko and Speaker of the National Assembly Natalya Kochanova to greet them on the National Day of their country. By Saeed Mahmoud Saleh Arab Times Staff