Manama: Kuwait’s deputy chief of National Guard, Sheikh Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, has been named as Crown Prince on Wednesday, state run Kuwait news agency KUNA said. Kuwait Amir Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah nominated Sheikh Mishal to the post, considered as a cautious selection at a turbulent time for Kuwait politics and the wider region.
According to the Kuwait constitution, the nomination will be endorsed by the National Assembly (parliament). The Assembly is meeting Thursday to endorse the appointment and allow Sheikh Mishal to take the oath. Following the session, Kuwait parliament will dissolve itself ahead of the November election.
80-years-old Sheikh Mishal is a half-brother of Sheikh Nawaf and the late Sheikh Sabah. He is the seventh son of the 10th Ruler from the Al Sabah dynasty, Sheikh Ahmed Al Jaber Al Sabah, who ruled Kuwait between 1921 and 1950.
He graduated with a degree from the Hendon Police College in London in 1960. He has been the Deputy Chairman of the National Guard since 2004. He held several positions in the Ministry of Interior before. He became the chief of the general investigations department in 1967 and continued in the post until 1980. The department was changed to the State Security Agency, of which Sheikh Mishal was the first chief.
According to media reports, he had in the past declined offers of senior positions, steering clear of the country's tumultuous politics. He had accompanied late Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah to the United States in July where the late ruler was hospitalized until he passed away.
Current ruler Sheikh Nawaf nominated his crown prince, Sheikh Mishal within a week. The crown prince must be nominated within a year from when a new Emir takes his post, according to the Kuwait constitution. The late Emir, Sheikh Sabah, nominated his crown prince, Sheikh Nawaf, nine days after he became Emir.
The early appointment is an important move as the country gears up for the crucial parliamentary elections late next month or in early December. Ahead of the election, the Cabinet reviewed on Tuesday a draft law to create a higher election commission and asked its legal department to study the legislation before endorsing it.
Emir and the crown prince are expected to focus on domestic issues at a time the government is trying to tackle a liquidity crunch due to coronavirus and related issues. A plunging oil prices, worsening coronavirus outbreak, and escalating tension between parliament and cabinet have sharpened attention on Kuwait’s domestic grievances.
Frequent clashes between Cabinet and the National Assembly, the Gulf’s oldest and most powerful legislature, have led to successive government reshuffles and dissolution of parliament.
