Saudi power struggle spills out
In the first reaction to appointment of Muqrin bin Abdul Aziz, King Abdullah’s youngest blood brother as second Deputy Prime Minister Talal bin Abdul Aziz has expressed his explicit opposition to this decision.Talal bin Abdul Aziz has cast doubts on justice in Saudi system, and demanded that system appointments return back to age priority system.
International daily, al-Quds al-Arabi wrote that Prince Talal, who is older than Prince Muqrin, criticized the appointment on his Twitter page, and threatens to resign.
He also pointed to the establishment of Allegiance Commission created by King Abdullah for appointing al-Saud princes to key government positions and said; “the Commission had been denied its role in introducing the Crown Prince and second deputy prime minister in Council of Ministers. If the current procedure by Allegiance Commission is not adhered to in appointing individuals to critical positions, a return to former procedure (age priority among King Abdul Aziz’s sons) would work better.
In his speech, widely interpreted as open invitation to exclude the Allegiance Commission, Talal bin Abdul Aziz asserted that if there was any problem in the procedures, it could be eliminated through revision and reform in order to attain justice and fairness.
This indicates that Saudi princes, including Prince Bin Talal, are prepared to enter into power struggle for ruling Saudi Arabia after the King’s death.
Bin Talal has frequently demanded implementation of fundamental reform in Saudi Arabia.
He believes that Saudi should gradually walk in a path, leading to holding elections.
Source:
mehrnews.com
