Kuwait has set December 1 as the date for a parliamentary election at an extraordinary cabinet meeting on Saturday, state media reported, a day after the oil producer's ruler amended voting laws.

Friday's announcement that the emir, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah, had ordered changes to the voting system prompted the opposition to say it was considering a boycott of the coming election.

Sabah had dissolved parliament on October 7, meaning that an election had to take place by mid-December.

Persistent political turmoil has held up development projects in the Gulf state, and ally of the US.

"The cabinet ... approved the ordering of a call to voters to elect members of the parliament on December 1, 2012," said the statement carried by Kuwait News Agency (Kuna).-Reuters