On Monday, Jordan’s parliament began talks on proposed constitutional modifications, which officials hope will revitalise the monarchy and are part of a push to execute long-awaited political reforms.
The proposals were developed by a royal commission established by King Abdullah to modernise the country’s political system and update the country’s existing political parties and election laws.
The draft legislation, according to Prime Minister Bisher al Khasawneh, will pave the way for a prime minister chosen by a parliamentary majority rather than one appointed by the monarch, a key plank of the reformist agenda advocated by a mix of Islamist and tribal groups.
He told the parliament, ‘It permits the country’s leader (king) to shift towards party-based governance.’
U.S.-backed Abdullah, who has the power to dissolve parliament and appoint governments and is the ultimate arbiter in the kingdom with a population of ten million people, has expressed his desire to become a constitutional monarch in recent years.
The plans include establishing a national security council led by the queen that would be subject to government oversight, a step that some experts and politicians regard as eroding the monarch’s authority.
According to liberal politicians, the monarch, who has ruled since 1999, has been forced to take cautious steps toward democracy in response to regional unrest, owing to the influence of a conservative bureaucracy and a tribal power base that views reforms as a threat to political and economic benefits.
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