KUWAIT CITY: Kuwait’s prime minister formed a Cabinet Saturday that includes a new oil minister, following elections in which the opposition performed well.
The government has seven new faces including Essam Al-Marzouq who was named minister of oil, electricity and water.
Al-Marzouq, a member of a merchant family, was a board member in national oil conglomerate Kuwait Petroleum Corp. and also the head of the Kuwait Bourse Company.
Besides Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Mubarak Al-Sabah, the Cabinet includes five members of the Al-Sabah family. But Sheikh Mohammad Khaled Al-Sabah, the former interior minister and a senior royal, was moved to the defense post.
The defense minister in the previous Cabinet, Sheikh Khaled Jarrah Al-Sabah, who is also a member of the ruling family, was given the interior portfolio. Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Sabah, a royal, was also retained. Anas Al-Saleh remained the finance minister in the new Cabinet.
The government of the oil-rich Gulf state resigned last month as required by the constitution following the Nov. 26 general election in which the opposition and its allies won nearly half the seats in Parliament. The 50-member legislature is scheduled to start meeting on Sunday.
Kuwait names new oil minister
