Jordan News

The Parliamentary Legal Committee continued, during its meeting today, Wednesday, headed by Attorney Abdel Moneim Al-Awdat, to discuss the two draft laws on elections and parties, for the year 2021.

Al-Awdat said, during the meeting that brought the committee together with a number of secretaries-general of political parties, in the presence of the Minister of State for Legal Affairs, Lawyer Wafaa Bani Mustafa, and the Secretary-General of the Ministry of Political and Parliamentary Affairs, Dr. Ali Al-Khawaldeh, “Today we are facing a historic opportunity that we must exploit, and there is support and a guarantee from His Majesty. King Abdullah II, in order to reach programmatic partisan parliaments, we have reached future parliamentary governments, in order to achieve the aspirations and aspirations of the Jordanian people.”

He pointed out that one of the challenges that faced partisan life was the absence of legislative stability, hence the constitutional amendments approved by the House of Representatives and the notables, which were disguised by the royal will. This is extremely important and enhances legislative stability.

Al-Awdat stressed that a mature democracy requires the presence of effective national political parties that are able to express society’s interests and priorities within programs that can be implemented and implemented, noting the principle that the amendments followed, which is the transitional and phased gradation to reach the Jordanian democratic model.

He pointed out that the parties and elections laws will contribute to building a more mature and influential national culture in political life, and the amendments to the two projects will contribute to increasing the strength of societal engagement with parties, enhancing the role of youth and empowering women as one of the main addresses of the modernization process of the political system.

Al-Awdat stressed that the draft election law constitutes a force for political life and a lever for partisan work, especially in light of the allocation of 41 seats in the next parliament, and this is a historical requirement for political parties, and that the proportion of seats allocated to parties will increase under the draft election law to reach 90 percent of parliament seats.

He pointed out that the political will of the state, represented by His Majesty, is heading towards strengthening parties, enabling them to reach the House of Representatives, and forming programmatic party blocs and parliamentary governments.

Al-Awdat noted that the Parliamentary Committee did not receive any proposals or objections to the articles of the electoral law, with the exception of some minor amendments that were put forward, while “we saw general satisfaction with the law, especially as it enhances partisan life and democracy and empowers youth and women, as the majority of parties praised the allocation of seats for the party list.

He added that the committee listened to the observations and suggestions of general secretaries or representatives of political parties, with the aim of reaching the highest levels of national consensus when approving the electoral and political party bills.

The secretaries-general of the Jordanian National Democratic Gathering (Tawad), Stronger Jordan, the conservatives, the National Union, Al-Fursan, Al-Mustaqbal, and the Jordanian Democratic Nature, on their part, reviewed a number of demands related to the parties’ law represented in reducing the number of members, easing the conditions related to licensing parties, and not Requiring existing parties before the bill is passed, because this harms parties that have been established for many years and decades.

They commended the draft election law and what it included in allocating a party list at the national level to 41 seats out of the total number of seats in the House of Representatives, and setting a threshold for the party list and the local list at the level of the electoral district.