A group of police took municipal council member Khalifa al-Khorafi for questioning from his home in a suburb of Kuwait City in the third such arrest reported ahead of the May election, the photographer said.

Khorafi, a member of one of Kuwait’s wealthiest families, and a relative of former speaker Jassem al-Khorafi, had told a private television station last week that the ruling Sabah family was incapable of running the Gulf state.

Oil-rich Kuwait goes to the polls on May 16, the second vote in just a year, after the emir dissolved parliament because of a standoff between the government and MPs.

Police on Thursday arrested former MP Daifallah Buramia for allegedly saying that Defence Minister Sheikh Jaber al-Mubarak al-Sabah, a senior member of the ruling family, was ‘not fit’ to become prime minister.

He faces charges of degrading the powers of the emir and violating the press and publications law.

Two weeks ago, police arrested trade union leader and election candidate Khaled al-Tahus after he told a public rally that tribesmen will resist security forces if they crack down on primary tribal elections.

Tahus was released on 17,000-dollar bail on Sunday.

In the run up to last year’s election, police clashed with tribesmen who defied a ban on the outlawed tribal elections and hundreds were arrested.

The OPEC’s fourth largest producer has been rocked by a series of political crises in the past three years that saw the resignation of five governments and the dissolution of three parliaments.