Kuwaiti emir’s son named prime minister

Kuwait named the emir’s son as prime minister on Sunday, replacing caretaker premier Sheikh Sabah al-Khalid who faced a combative parliament amid a feud between the government and elected assembly that has hindered fiscal reform.

Crown Prince Sheikh Meshal al-Ahmad al-Sabah, who took over most of the ruling emir’s duties late last year, named Sheikh Ahmad Nawaf al-Sabah to the post in an emiri decree. Last month the crown prince said he was dissolving parliament and would issue a decree for early elections, a move welcomed by opposition lawmakers who had staged a sit-in to press the prince to name a new prime minister.

Sheikh Ahmad was deputy prime minister and interior minister in the outgoing government, which had submitted its resignation in April ahead of a non-cooperation motion in parliament against Sheikh Sabah, who had been premier since late 2019.

Sheikh Ahmad, in his late 60s, began his career with the police force and then entered the interior ministry. After his father Emir Sheikh Nawaf al-Ahmad took power in 2020 he was appointed deputy head of the National Guard. He was named interior minister, and a deputy prime minister, in March after his predecessor resigned, along with the then-defence minister, in protest over “arbitrary” questioning of ministers by the elected parliament.

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