Kuwait’s parliament will meet on Sunday to elect a new emir, who will almost certainly be Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmed Al Sabah, the deputy speaker of parliament said today.

Kuwait’s parliament today voted unanimously to oust the ailing emir, apparently ending a leadership crisis that had gripped the oil-rich US ally for nine days.

Kuwaitis waited today for the expected abdication of their ailing emir, Sheikh Saad Al Abdullah Al Sabah, a move that has been sought for days to resolve the country’s unprecedented leadership crisis.

KUWAIT’S succession crisis deepened yesterday amid a confrontation between the ailing new emir and parliament over his fitness to rule.

The emir of Kuwait, Sheikh Jaber Al Ahmed Al Sabah, who was forced into months of exile by Iraqi forces overrunning his oil-rich Gulf state in 1990 and then supported the US in invading Iraq more than a decade later, died today.