Ahmed Abdulaziz al-Sadoun (Arabic: أحمد عبدالعزيز السعدون, born November 12, 1934) is the Speaker of the Kuwaiti National Assembly from June 20, 2023. He was previously the speaker from 1985 to 1999, from February 2012 until it was declared that the February 2012 elections were invalid and from October 2022 until it was declared in March 2023 that the September 2022 elections were invalid.[3] He is the leader of the Popular Action Bloc in the Assembly and served for eight terms.
He represented the third district. Al-Sadoun worked in the ministry of communication before being elected to the National Assembly in 1975.
He is the youngest of his family born to his father Abdulaziz Jassem al-Sadoun and mother Madhawi al-Rikada. He has 12 brothers and sisters. Al-Sadoun is Married with six children: two boys (Abdulaziz and Mohammed) and four girls (Widad, Ghada, Shaikha and Dalal). He is one of the founders of Kazma Sporting Club in 1964 and secretary until 1968 and then the president of Kuwait Football Association from 1968 to 1976 and vice president of FIFA from 1974 to 1982.
Political Orientation: Leader of the Takatul al-Nawwab (1992) and of the Popular Action Bloc (1999, 2012)
Allegations of profiteering
On May 28, 2007, the National Assembly formed an in-house investigation panel to look into allegations that al-Sadoun and Mohammed Al-Sager used their influence to make money. The seven-member panel examined claims that Al-Sadoun gave information he garnered from a parliamentary question to his son, helping the company the son worked in to win a business contract.[5]
Oil reforms
On June 14, 2008, al-Sadoun and three other MPs filed a bill prohibiting annual oil output from exceeding one percent of proven reserves. The bill also required the state to disclose the emirate's actual proven reserves. Government reports declared Kuwait's reserves to be about 100 billion barrels (1.6×1010 m3), though some reports said proven reserves could be as low as 24 billion barrels (3.8×109 m3). Kuwait had been producing just under one billion barrels per year, one percent of the official reserve figure. The bill would cut output by one quarter of the previous 2.55 million barrels (405,000 m3).[6]
Al-Sadoun broke from Kuwait's oil policies in opposing the entry of international oil companies (IOCs) into Kuwait.[7]
^On March 19, 2023, the Constitutional Court annulled the 2022 legislative election and reinstated the National Assembly elected in 2020, of which al-Ghanim was Speaker.[1]
^On June 20, 2012, the Constitutional Court annulled the 2012 legislative election and reinstated the National Assembly elected in 2009, of which al-Kharafi was Speaker.
^Al-Sadoun was Speaker on July 3, 1986 when the National Assembly was indefinitely dissolved. He returned to power after the first constitutionally-mandated election was held in 1992.
^On July 3, 1986, the Emir suspended the Constitution and dissolved the National Assembly indefinitely. During Iraq's occupation of Kuwait and under intense international pressure, the Emir pledged to revive the National Assembly after Kuwait was liberated.[2] As a result, Kuwait held a legislative election on October 5, 1992.
