Kuwait minister survives parliament vote

KUWAIT CITY, Kuwait (Reuters) -- A Kuwaiti minister on Monday survived a no-confidence vote in the country's elected parliament in a dispute which could have forced the government to resign.

Twenty-six elected MPs voted in favor of Adel al-Subaih, Electricity and water minister and minister of state for housing affairs, keeping his job after he was accused of failing to carry out his duties and violating the constitution.

His opponents needed the support of 25 out of 48 elected MPs to force his resignation after he faced a 12-hour questioning in parliament two weeks ago.

But only 19 MPs voted for his dismissal while three abstained in a three-hour session in the only elected parliament in the Gulf Arab region.

Such questioning and no-confidence votes are unheard of in other Gulf Arab states.

Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah and Subaih both read from prepared speeches after the vote to thank MPs for their support.

Sheikh Sabah expressed "comfort with the outcome of the questioning: the renewal of deserved confidence" in Subaih, an Islamist minister.

Formal questioning of ministers has in recent years triggered internal crises between parliament, which enjoys wide powers, and the non-elected government.

The latest vote was closely watched in Kuwait as some analysts had expected the entire government to step down if Subaih had failed to survive.

Some of the MPs who supported Subaih later tried to commit the government to consulting with parliament's housing committee on some "unpopular" measures which were taken.

But the motion was rejected by 26 of 58 MPs present after the government stressed that it was a non-binding recommendation.

The grilling focused on the housing policy in a cradle-to- grave welfare state which offers Kuwaitis homes under very soft loan terms. MPs said Subaih wrongly cut some of the benefits.

Several of the speakers on Monday warned that the Subaih issue had severely split the country and created a strife between its tribal and rural communities and also between a Sunni Muslim Kuwaiti majority and a Shi'ite minority.

Subaih is from the tiny state's rural trading families while his opponents included some tribal and Shi'ite politicians. Some 30 percent of the 820,000 Kuwaitis belong to the Shi'ite sect.

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