KUWAIT CITY - The Kuwaiti parliament broke up in chaos on Monday when reformist MPs walked out in protest at attempts to block a redrawing of constituencies intended to counter alleged vote-buying. The reformers left the session when voting began on a motion tabled by conservative and tribal MPs that sought to refer a government-backed bill reducing the number of consituencies from 25 to 10 to the constitutional court.Twenty-eight of parliament’s 50 MPs walked out when a government minister became the first to vote in favour of the motion. Chants of “Down with the government,” ”Long live Kuwait,” ”We want five (constituencies),” came from a packed gallery as the MPs mounted the unprecedented walkout. The reformist MPs want to go further than the government bill and slash the number of constituencies to five in a bid to fight vote-buying and other irregularities.
Government members and their supporters in parliament left after the opposition walkout, prompting the reformist MPs to return.