Palace puts final touches to plans for Saudi transfer of power

Twitter uses in the Gulf have been busy tweeting hints that Saudi Arabia’s King Salman will be stepping down and handing over power to his son Mohammad within a matter of hours.

The most prominent prediction was made by “Mujtahidd”, which many believe is actually an account run by two princesses from the Al-Saud family living in London. The tweet said, “Bin Salman completed arrangements for his father to step down and appoint him in his place.”

Reuters has attributed a rise in the Saudi stock market yesterday to what it called rumours of the Crown Prince taking the throne soon. The agency quoted a report by geopolitical consultancy Eurasia Group in which it said, “The royal palace is finalising plans to transfer power from King Salman to his son, Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman, predicting that the plans would be implemented soon.”

CNBC also reported yesterday that the Saudi monarch may hand over power to his son in the next few weeks.

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