Kuwaiti Parliament Speaker Jassem Khurafi called Saturday for the allowing of political parties in the emirate.
"I believe it will come," Khurafi told reporter. "If we speak about real democratic work, there must be political parties. The existing groups have not yet taken the shape of real political parties."
The emirate's foreign minister last week ruled out the setting up of political parties, saying he feared a party system would only serve to damage the emirate's unity.
"I think Kuwait has no pressing need right now to set up political parties in a society which is like a single family," Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmed al-Sabah said.
"The creation of political parties could sow dissent and discord within society," he said. "But that does not mean the absence of political pluralism in a democratic country like Kuwait."
There are at least six liberal and Islamic groupings represented in the Kuwaiti parliament and, although they are not officially recognized, they function in public without restriction - KUWAIT CITY (AFP)
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