Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah took the constitutional oath as the new Emir of Kuwait at a special session of the country's parliament on Wednesday (20 December), becoming the 17th Amir of the State of Kuwait.
In a speech after the constitutional ceremony in the Assembly, Sheikh Mishal paid tribute to late Emir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah who died on Saturday, and strongly criticized the government and the Assembly for taking “unanimous decisions that harm national interests”.
Kuwait has a complex constitutional arrangement that has developed over decades to balance the interests of different branches of the ruling al Sabah family, and the power of the royal family and people’s opinion reflected through the country’s elected parliament which has become increasingly adept at providing scrutiny of the ruling family. For this reason, Kuwait is considered the most democratic of the six GCC monarchies, but the system has also often ended in deadlock between the parliament and ruling family, sometimes triggering fresh elections and often bringing down Ministries headed by members of the Royal Family.
Sheikh Mishal, who until Saturday was the country’s Crown Prince, was declared as Kuwait’s 17th ruler by the Cabinet of Ministers on Saturday, hours after announcing the death of Sheikh Nawaf. Under Kuwait’s constitution, the appointed Emir must take the constitutional oath to be able to assume his constitutional powers like issuing decrees.
Under the constitution, the new Emir has one full year to appoint a crown prince, who must be from Mubarak Al-Kabeer’s descendants of the Al-Sabah Family that has been ruling Kuwait for more than 250 years.
Article 4 of the Kuwait constitution stipulates that Kuwait is a hereditary emirate whose emir must be an heir of Mubarak Al-Sabah. Mubarak had four sons, but an informal pattern of alternation between the descendants of his sons Jabir and Salem emerged since his death in 1915. This pattern of succession had one exception before 2006, when Sheikh Sabah Al-Salim, a son of Salem, was named crown prince to succeed his half-brother Sheikh Abdullah Al-Salem as a consequence of infighting and lack of consensus within the ruling family council. The alternating system was resumed when Sheikh Sabah Al-Salim named Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmed of the Jabir branch as his crown prince, eventually ruling as Emir for 29 years from 1977 to 2006.
The crown prince must be approved by a majority vote of the National Assembly. But if the Assembly rejects the appointment, the Emir will have to propose three names, and the Assembly will elect one of them by voting to become the country’s crown prince.
The first decision Sheikh Mishal took after assuming his constitutional powers was accepting the resignation of the Prime Minister Sheikh Ahmad Al-Nawaf Al-Sabah, who submitted his government’s resignation to the new Head of State. The Emir then asked Sheikh Ahmad to remain as a caretaker premier until a prime minister is appointed.
In his speech to parliament after his swearing-in, Sheikh Mishaal said he is keen on compliance with the constitution and application of the law on all and fighting corruption. He also asserted “our commitment to our Gulf and international” obligations. The Emir said executive and legislative authorities have obligations to meet for the nation and citizens, and not take decisions that would be harmful to the nation, citing unfair appointments, naturalizations that “change Kuwait’s identity”, the amnesty file “and its consequences” and the rehabilitation file that were “harmful to our nation, and an evidence of the harm to the interests of the nation”.
