Kuwaiti finance minister Youssef al-Ibrahim has narrowly survived a no-confidence vote, averting a political crisis that threatened to bring down the government or the legislature.

The results of the session are a victory for Kuwait and a victory for democracy

Youssef al-Ibrahim

Ten MPs filed the motion last week, in response to allegations that Mr al-Ibrahim concealed information from the national assembly and was involved vote-rigging in the 1999 elections.

The Kuwaiti Government had threatened to resign if the no-confidence motion were passed.

The 50-seat assembly has been dissolved three times because of clashes with the cabinet - the last time in 1999.

Twenty-two of the 46 lawmakers who attended the session on Wednesday voted against the removal of Mr al-Ibrahim, while 21 voted in favour and three abstained.

Liberal

Supporters of Mr al-Ibrahim cheered the result of the vote from the gallery, while his critics threw their white headdresses on parliament members in protest.

"The results of the session are a victory for Kuwait and a victory for democracy," Mr al-Ibrahim told reporters after the vote.

Mr al-Ibrahim, a liberal, has been finance minister since February 2001.

Islamist and other opposition MPs have accused him of failing to account for all the money spent through the Central Bank in the months that preceded the 1999 elections. They believe the money was used to buy votes.

The minister said he did give them an account about how much was spent, but could not provide names of beneficiaries because of bank secrecy laws.