Jordanian King Abdullah II issued a royal decree on Tuesday calling on the National Assembly to convene on July 22 for an extraordinary session, which is expected to witness verbal confrontations between lawmakers and cabinet members.
Also Tuesday, the Reform Bloc affiliated with the Islamic Action Front Party submitted to the parliament’s general secretariat a request for a no-confidence motion against the government of Prime Minister Omar al-Razzaz after its decision to participate in the Bahrain conference, which is revealing the economic part of the US peace plan dubbed “deal of the century”.
The motion was signed by 17 deputies. But the parliament can not discuss any item outside the agenda of the extraordinary session announced by the Royal decree, in compliance with the provisions of the constitution.
The call for the session comes days after the Center for Strategic Studies, Jordan University, showed that the current government had the second lowest assessment among successive Jordanian cabinets since 2011, and that 41 percent of Jordanians believe that Razzaz’ government was unable to carry out its responsibilities.
Another report prepared by Rased Center for the Development of Civil Society showed that Razzaz has made 299 commitments during the first year, of which only 14 percent are completed, 62 percent are underway, and 24 percent are yet to be executed.
The session’s agenda includes laws on integrity and combating corruption, cyber security law, revised law on social security, amended bill of traffic law, and the arms and ammunition bill, government sources told Asharq Al-Awsat.
Earlier, Asharq Al-Awsat quoted political sources as saying that Razzaz insists on holding the session despite advice from his closed circle to postpone it.
The parliament is expected to complete its constitutional term during four regular sessions, after which preparations for the elections will begin, political sources told Asharq Al-Awsat.
The Jordanian constitution prohibits discussing anything outside the agenda of the special session devoted for legislation inside the parliament's building. However, MPs usually hold their meetings and issue statements contradicting the government's approach outside the parliament.
A number of parliamentarians expected the upcoming extraordinary session to witness heated debates against the backdrop of the recent government reshuffle, which kept the ministers described by the deputies as “ministers of aggravation.”
For instance, Interior Minister Salameh Hammad was reassigned in his position even though he received the parliament’s no-confidence vote following the terrorist al-Karak attack in 2016.
In addition, official sources confirmed that the electoral law was not due to be submitted to the parliament given that decision makers are expected to discuss the amendments. The law will be presented before the parliament in the final months of its last regular session during the first quarter of 2020.
Sources familiar with the law stated that it may include procedural amendments, as well as amendments concerning seats for women and the possibility of merging them with lists of the general constituencies. This means reducing the seats of the women’s quota to 15 deputies.
They also indicated that northern, southern and central governorates are expected to be merged with the nearby governorates, without reducing the number of seats of provinces representing Jordanian tribes.
