Nasser Al-Sabah

Nasser Mohammed Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah (Arabic: الشيخ ناصر المحمد الأحمد الصباح‎, born 22 December 1940) is a Kuwaiti politician who served as Prime Minister of Kuwait from 7 February 2006 until resigning on 28 November 2011. He is the first prime minister to date that never became ruler or even crown prince.

Nasser Mohammed Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah
ناصر المحمد الأحمد الصباح
Prime Minister of Kuwait
In office
7 February 2006 – 28 November 2011
MonarchSabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah
DeputyJaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah
Preceded bySabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah
Succeeded byJaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah
Minister of Social Affairs
In office
11 January 1988 – 9 March 1990
Prime MinisterSaad Al-Abdullah Al-Salim Al-Sabah
Preceded byJaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah
Succeeded byJaber Abdullah
Personal details
Born (1940-12-22) 22 December 1940
Kuwait City, Kuwait
Political partyIndependent
Alma materUniversity of Geneva

Early life

Sheikh Nasser was born on 22 December 1940 as the son of Mohammed Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, the first defense minister of Kuwait.[1] He is the nephew of the Emir of Kuwait, Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.[1][2] He attended high school in the United Kingdom and graduated in 1955.[1] Then, he received a higher diploma in the French language in 1960.[1] From 1960 to 1964, Cursus in Political Science and Economics from the University of Geneva – Switzerland.

Career

Sheikh Nasser began his career as a third secretary at the foreign ministry in 1964.[1] He became a member of the permanent Kuwaiti delegation at the United Nations in New York in October 1964.[1] He then served as ambassador to Iran and Afghanistan, the minister of information, minister of social affairs and labour, minister of state for foreign affairs and minister of the Emiri Diwan. He became prime minister when Sabah Al Ahmad began to rule Kuwait in February 2006.[1]

Sheikh Nasser resigned on 4 March 2007 in a move observers believe was aimed at avoiding a no-confidence motion against health minister Sheikh Ahmad Al-Abdullah Al-Sabah. Ten MPs presented the motion in February over suspected financial and administrative breaches at the ministry. The vote was due to have taken place in parliament on 5 March and Sheikh Ahmad would have had to step down if legislators had voted against him. He was reappointed as prime minister on 6 March.

On 25 November, the cabinet resigned, and on 17 December the Emir reappointed Nasser as prime minister of the new cabinet.[3] In March 2009, the Kuwaiti Government submitted its resignation to the Emir of Kuwait after Islamist MPs requested a hearing of the P.M. On 9 May, after the election of the new Parliament, the Emir asked Sheikh Nasser to form the Kuwaiti Government for the sixth consecutive time. The new Government maintained supremacy of the Al-Ahmed Branch of the Al-Sabah Family.

In January 2011, he survived a vote of no-confidence in parliament with a vote of 25–25 (26 were needed to bring down the Government).[4] In April 2011, his cabinet resigned due to a stand-off with parliament; he was reappointed on 6 April 2011 to form a new government, but he resigned again on 28 November 2011.[5] His resignation was accepted by the Emir and he appointed Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah as next prime minister on 4 December 2011.[5]

Dispute with Speaker Al-Kharafi

On 3 November 2007, Parliamentary Speaker Jassem Al-Kharafi told the pan-Arab Arabiya television in an interview that he had "question marks" about the Prime Minister's decisions. A transcript of the interview was published in Alrai daily, which included Al-Kharafi's comment that too many reshuffles necessitate "a review and an evaluation of what measures should be taken." Al-Kharafi said the reshuffle should not have been put off for the whole summer and that it indicated a "policy of patching" up problems, rather than solving them.

In response, Prime Minister Nasser issued a statement about Al-Kharafi to the state-owned Kuwait News Agency, which was splashed on the front pages of daily newspapers. In the statement, PM Nasser said that Al-Kharafi was overstepping in bounds in trying to influence cabinet selections: "I have no doubt that .... the speaker realizes that his attempts to interfere in forming the Cabinet and affecting its decisions is overstretching his constitutional mandate." The back-and-forth marked the first such public tensions between a speaker and a prime Minister.[6]

Titles and styles
  • 7 June 1988 – 9 March 1990: His Excellency Sheikh Nasser Mohammed Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah
  • 7 February 2006 – 28 November 2011: His Highness Sheikh Nasser Mohammed Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah

See also

References
  1. "A Diplomat Burdened With a Cumbersome Legacy". The Majalla. 22 June 2009. Retrieved 29 June 2013.
  2. Selvik, Kjetil (2011). "Elite Rivalry in a Semi-Democracy: The Kuwaiti Press Scene". Middle Eastern Studies. 47 (3): 477–496. doi:10.1080/00263206.2011.565143.
  3. Kuwait re-appoints prime minister BBC
  4. "Kuwait PM survives confidence vote". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 29 June 2013.
  5. Kenneth Katzman (30 August 2013). "Kuwait: Security, Reform, and U.S. Policy" (PDF). Congressional Research Service. Retrieved 14 September 2013.
  6. Parliament speaker and prime minister bicker publicly
Political offices
Preceded by
Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah		 Prime Minister of Kuwait
2006–2011		 Succeeded by
Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah
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