Kuwait PM Nominated as Amir

Bahrain Tribune today reports that the impasse in Kuwait has finally been resolved:

Kuwait’s parliament yesterday removed the country’s ailing ruler on health grounds and the cabinet nominated the prime minister as new amir.

The nomination of Shaikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah ended the political uncertainty which had gripped Kuwait since Shaikh Saad Al Ahmad Al Sabah, who is 76 and incapacitated by illness, became amir on January 15 after the death of his cousin.

Shaikh Sabah, a cousin of Shaikh Saad, has already been de facto ruler for four years because of the ill-health of both the late amir and Shaikh Saad.

Parliament voted unanimously to remove Shaikh Saad shortly before receiving his abdication letter, parliamentarians said. “After listening to the medical report, the assembly with its 65 members agreed to remove him from the post of amir,” parliament speaker Jassem Al Kharafi said. Justice Minister Ahmad Baqer said an official letter with Shaikh Sabah’s nomination would be sent to parliament today and that he expected a voting session to be held on Sunday or Monday.

Yesterday’s vote was a rare assertion of parliamentary muscle against a hereditary ruler in the Arab world, even though Kuwait’s ruling family had agreed Shaikh Saad should step down. Analysts hailed the vote as a triumph for the rule of law in a region dominated by autocratic governments.