Wednesday, March 16, 2011

AMMAN: Jordan’s king has set a three-month deadline for agreement on political reforms.
Abdullah II said Tuesday a 53-member committee with government officials and opposition leaders will draft new laws for parliamentary elections and political parties – key demands in 11 weeks of protests.

Powerful Islamist opposition and their leftist allies also call for dissolving Parliament and for the prime minister, who is currently appointed by the king, to instead be elected.

Abdullah said the new laws should produce a Parliament where all Jordanians are “fairly represented,” fostering “justice and the rule of law.”
Jordan’s Islamist opposition Tuesday slammed the National Dialogue Committee, saying it does not meet their “minimum” reform demands.

“The Muslim Brotherhood and its political arm the Islamic Action Front will not take part in the work of the committee because its composition and the way it was formed do not meet minimum demands for reform,” the IAF said on its website.
“The king, and not the government, should be the reference for the committee, which should group people who believe in and work for reform,” the IAF said.

The panel, which includes three top Muslim Brotherhood leaders as well as former ministers, politicians, trade unionists and writers, was approved Monday and charged with drawing up a new electoral law within three months.
But a Muslim Brotherhood leader, Abdel-Latif Arabiyat, said Tuesday he would not take part unless Parliament is dissolved and a prime minister is elected from a parliamentary majority.

Headed by Senate president Taher al-Masri, the committee would work on “two amended laws on general elections and political parties,” according to the state-run Petra news agency.
“The government is trying again to silence reform calls. The will for political reform is absent,” the IAF statement said.

“The Islamist movement will continue all legitimate and lawful means to push for reform.”
The Islamists also want to scrap amendments to the 1952 constitution, which was promulgated by King Abdullah II’s grandfather King Talal.

The document has already been amended 29 times, giving greater power to the monarch and weakening the legislature, experts say. – AP, AFP