Kuwait emir names Sheikh Jaber to form new cabinet
Mon, 6 Feb 2012 18:14 GMT
(Adds details, background)
DUBAI, Feb 6 (Reuters) - Kuwait's emir has asked outgoing prime minister Sheikh Jaber al-Mubarak al-Sabah to form a new cabinet, the state news agency KUNA said on Monday, after the Gulf Arab state held a parliamentary election last week.
Sheikh Jaber, a member of the ruling family, was prime minister of a caretaker cabinet that resigned on Sunday after the election.
He was appointed in December after the previous cabinet resigned in response to a political deadlock that has stymied reform and held up vital development projects in the major oil exporter.
Following the deadlock the emir, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah, dissolved parliament and called early elections in which an Islamist-led opposition bloc stormed to victory, taking control of the Gulf state's fourth parliament in six years.
The new cabinet is expected to face an opposition emboldened by its gains in last week's vote.
Opposition candidates had been tipped to expand their influence in parliament, riding on a wave of popular frustration with corruption and political paralysis.
That anger came to a head in November, when protesters stormed the chamber demanding the resignation of former Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser al-Mohammed al-Sabah, whom they accused of graft.
Thursday's election left the assembly without any female parliamentarians and reduced the number of Shi'ite deputies. (Reporting by Mahmoud Habboush; Editing by Tim Pearce)
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