Kuwait's ruler dissolved parliament yesterday and will set a fresh election in May, lawmakers said, days after the cabinet of the Gulf Arab oil exporter resigned over months of political wrangling.

Lawmakers said that Jassem al-Kharafi, the speaker of the dissolved house, had been informed of the decision but state media had yet to publish the official decree.

The ruler, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah, who has the last say in Kuwaiti politics, would announce the dissolution and call the new election in a televised address later yesterday, they said.