On a stand to sell vegetables on the highway linking the cities of Amman and Salt, in western Jordan, young Abdullah Al-Waked (30 years) spends his day carrying many worries on his back, the last of which is the election law and the participation of young people in political parties, he said.
His priorities in life, according to his speech to Al-Jazeera Net, “find a job opportunity on my university degree in business administration after graduating 8 years ago, marriage, health insurance and a decent life, as young people need jobs and family stability before they engage in political life.” Read also In a country riven by political crises, why is politics absent from the Jordanian election programmed? Protection programs did not help them.. Freelance workers in Jordan are suffering from the fire of Corona Reflecting the limits of democracy in the Kingdom.. The results of Jordan’s elections show a decline in the number of seats for Islamists and women Israeli gas… Will it put the Jordanian government and parliament in a confrontation?
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King Abdullah II of Jordan directed the formation of the royal committee to modernize the political system, headed by former Prime Minister Samir Al-Rifai, and the membership of 93 personalities, including former officials and party figures from the opposition, loyalists and unions.
supporter and opposer
With the announcement of the Royal Committee, last Thursday, a state of controversy and division arose on social media between supporters and supporters of the committee, and skeptics and opponents of it, and each party has its justifications.
Its supporters see the committee – according to activists – as an important step on the path to reforming political legislation, especially the electoral law, which is the golden key to developing political life and the transfer of power between parliamentary governments formed by the majority political parties in the House of Representatives. The committee is based on the discussion papers of the King of Jordan, and enjoys royal patronage and support.
As for those opposed to the formation of the committee, they believe – according to activists – that the previous experiences of Jordanians with the formed national committees did not reach tangible results on the ground, and the recommendations of those committees remain confined to the papers that were written on them.
Some activists went further, considering the formation of the committee as a response to the new democratic American administration, and an official attempt to absorb the local crises arising from the absence of real reform, according to the pioneers of the communication sites.
During the reign of King Abdullah II, since he assumed his constitutional powers in 1999, about 10 reform committees were formed, most notably the Jordan First Committee, the National Agenda Committee, the “We are all Jordan” committee, as well as the National Dialogue Committee, the Constitution Amendment Committee, and the Economic Dialogue Committee, as well as Judicial Development Committee
Message axes
The committee’s work program included, according to the royal commissioning message, several axes, including what is legislative, represented in the development of two new draft laws for elections and another for political parties, and consideration of constitutional amendments related – de jure – to the two new laws.
Among them are recommendations made by the committee to develop legislation governing local administration, parliamentary work mechanisms, broaden the base of participation in decision-making, and create a legislative and political environment that guarantees the role of youth and women in public life.
The assignment focused on the necessity of paying attention to the role of youth and motivating them to participate in party and parliamentary life, empowering women, promoting the values of citizenship – rights and duties – and freedoms guaranteed by legislation, and adhering to the principle of the rule of law.
The formation of the committee came in light of a difficult economic circumstance that Jordan is suffering from due to the Corona pandemic – according to economists – which led to an increase in unemployment rates of more than 24%, a decline in the standard of living and an increase in poverty segments.
parallel lines
A member of the Royal Committee – a former representative of the Islamic Action Front – Dima Tahboub asserts that the committee’s work in reforming the system of political laws “is supposed to go in parallel with the process of economic and administrative reform and the fight against corruption.”
Dima believes – in her speech to Al Jazeera Net – that her country’s government is required to “proceed with its economic program to raise the standard of living of citizens, reduce their tax burden, and raise the ceiling of public freedoms and freedom of expression, and this is not one of the committee’s tasks.”
Dima’s participation in the committee as a representative of the largest Islamic opposition parties in Jordan came to “prove that we are not a nihilistic opposition.
The committee has a royal guarantee to put draft laws and recommendations into practice by the executive and legislative authorities, according to Tahboub.
Is there a will?
On the other hand, former minister and political analyst Muhammad Abu Rumman asks, “Is there a real will to move forward with political reform? Especially since the committee is not the first during the reign of King Abdullah, but it constitutes a “common ground for dialogue between the spectrum of society after the recent societal transformations.”
Abu Rumman adds to Al Jazeera Net that “the danger of the failure of the committee’s work worries everyone, especially in light of the continuous bleeding from the political balance in the state’s relationship with society,” and believes that the biggest problem facing the committee’s work is “implementing its outputs in the presence of obstacles from the executive authority and conservative currents in the state.”
The first work of the committee was launched today, Tuesday, with a directive letter from the Jordanian king that formed a road map for the committee’s work. Six sub-committees related to youth, women, and local administration emerge from the committee, as well as the election law, parties, and constitutional amendments.