Kuwaitis head to polls, fear no end to crisis

KUWAIT, May 16 (Reuters) - Kuwaitis head to polling booths on Saturday with little hope their third elections in three years will end a tussle between parliament and the ruling family-dominated cabinet that has held up key economic reforms.

The new assembly will have to vote on a $5 billion economic stimulus package seen as crucial to help the financial sector overcome the global financial crisis, measures that pro-West ruler Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah approved in March.

There are no political parties in Kuwait, the world's fourth largest oil exporter, but conservative Islamists and tribal figures who have opposed government economic plans and pressed ministers over accountability are expected to dominate again.

"Islamists can lose some seats but it won't be enough to change the general mood in the parliament," political analyst Shafiq al-Ghabra said.

Kuwait -- a small state of 3.2 million, only 1 million of whom are Kuwaiti citizens -- lags behind neighbours Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain which have transformed into commercial, financial and tourist centres that attract foreign investors. Kuwait was forced to rescue a major bank last year.

But deputies have blocked many major projects. They accuse the government of corruption and oppose trimming back the huge welfare state, and have insisted on using their rights to demand ministers appear before parliament for public scrutiny.

The government, dominated by the ruling Al Sabah family, has baulked at offering some ministers for the ritual.

Kuwait's protracted crisis led Moody's Investors Service to say in March that it may cut the country's sovereign rating for the first time since it started rating Kuwait in 1996.

Cabinet resigned in March to avoid Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser al-Mohammad al-Sabah, a nephew of the Emir, having to appear before the parliamentarians.