In a session to discuss the constitutional amendments, Representative Saleh al-Armouti refused to include the name of the Muslim Brotherhood, the General Comptroller and the Communist Party in the discussions about the king’s powers, stressing that the Muslim Brotherhood, the General Comptroller and the Jordanian Communist Party are all respected and valued bodies that should not be questioned.

Armouti said that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights says: Every political group that does not respect freedoms, the rights of citizens, or the principle of separation of powers are governments that are not free and unconstitutional, warning that “the concentration of power is only in totalitarian states.”

He stressed that “what is related to the involvement of the observer general of the Muslim Brotherhood in the discussion, he is neither an Ash’ari nor a Mu’tazilite, and it is not permissible to assume that.”

He added, also, the Communist Party is a licensed party in Jordan. It is not permissible to question the Communist Party, the General Comptroller, or the Muslim Brotherhood, and assume things that are not true.

He continued his speech by saying: That is why I say that the Communist Party and the General Controller of the Brotherhood are an integral part of the political reform in my country, and we do not allow our national parties to be questioned, of which we are proud.

For his part, MP Omar Al-Ayasra responded by saying: I did not doubt, but rather pointed out that some parties in their ideological structure have positions and biases from religious jurisprudence and the sectarian dimension, and therefore kept them away from receiving these files, and they should remain in the hands of the king in the context of keeping them away from partisan biases.

Deputy Ayasra had expressed his fear of keeping the powers of appointing the chief justice in the hands of a partisan government, assuming that if the Communist Party came to rule Jordan, or the Muslim Brotherhood came to rule the state and the General Comptroller was an Ash’ari or a Salafi, what would it be like?

He stressed that the appointment of the Chief Justice, the general balance of dealing with the Chief Justice and the Mufti remains in the hands of the holder of religious legitimacy, from which the legitimacy of the Hashemites and the state emerged.

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