CAIRO (Reuters/AP) – Kuwait's Emir Sheikh Meshal al-Ahmad al-Sabah said in a televised speech on Friday that he has dissolved parliament.
The Emir also suspended some of the constitutional articles for a period not exceeding four years during which all aspects of the democratic process will be studied.
The powers of the National Assembly will be assumed by the Emir and the country's cabinet, state TV reported.
"Kuwait has been through some hard times lately ... which leaves no room for hesitation or delay in making the difficult decision to save the country and secure its highest interests," the Emir added.
The legislature in Kuwait wields more influence than similar bodies in other Gulf monarchies, and political deadlock has for decades led to cabinet reshuffles and dissolutions of parliament.
AP adds: Domestic political disputes have been gripping Kuwait for years, including over changes to the welfare system, and the impasse has prevented the sheikhdom from taking on debt. That has left it with little in its coffers to pay bloated public sector salaries despite generating immense wealth from its oil reserves.
Kuwait, a nation with some 4.2 million people that is slightly smaller than the US state of New Jersey, has the world’s sixth-largest known oil reserves.
It has been a staunch US ally since the 1991 Gulf War expelled occupying Iraqi forces of Saddam Hussein. Kuwait hosts some 13,500 American military personnel as well as the forward headquarters of the US Army in the Middle East.
Kuwait is alone among Gulf Arab countries in having a democratically elected parliament that exerts some checks on the ruling family, which nevertheless appoints the government and can dissolve the assembly at will.