Kuwait PM Survives Non-Cooperation Motion

Kuwait's prime minister on Wednesday narrowly survived a parliament vote seen as a serious bid by the opposition to oust him, speaker Jassem al-Kharafi said.

Twenty-five MPs in the 50-seat assembly voted in support of Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Mohammad al-Ahmad al-Sabah, while 22 were against him and one abstained.

One MP is a minister who cannot vote on such issues, while another MP is outside Kuwait.

The motion of "non-cooperation" was filed on December 28 by opposition lawmakers who accused the premier of breaching the constitution and suppressing freedoms. It required the support of 25 MPs to be passed.

But opposition MPs said afterwards that they would not deal with a government headed by Sheikh Nasser, a senior member of the al-Sabah ruling family, and vowed to bring it down.

"Today is the beginning... We will continue to work to bring about the downfall of this government through the streets," opposition MP Mussallam al-Barrak said after the vote.

Speaking to reporters outside the parliament, Islamist MP Jamaan al-Harbash said the "crisis will only end when this government reaches its end.

"It's not possible for MPs to deal with a government that has humiliated the Kuwaiti people," Harbash said.