Jordan Times
Sunday, April 24, 2005
Deputies to discuss
petition for extraordinary session
By Alia Shukri Hamzeh
AMMAN — Members of the Lower House Permanent Bureau and heads of its 14
committees are scheduled to meet Monday morning to discuss their bid for an
extraordinary session and its agenda, Deputy Mamdouh Abbadi said on Saturday.
They will discuss a petition calling for an extraordinary session, signed
earlier this month by 57 deputies and handed to Lower House Speaker Abdul Hadi
Majali, he added.
The petition is expected to be presented to the government soon.
“We want to revisit the items we had earlier put on the agenda of the session to
decide if they need to be changed or not,” Abbadi told The Jordan Times
yesterday.
The petition included 17 items to be discussed in the extraordinary session.
Abbadi had earlier said around 50 draft laws would be discussed during the
extraordinary session, in addition to the new government's state policy.
The 14th Parliament's second ordinary session was recessed on April 1 and the
next ordinary session is slated for November. According to the Constitution, the
King may summon the National Assembly, whenever necessary, to meet in an
extraordinary session for an unspecified period at the request of an absolute
majority of the deputies.
Meanwhile, the number of signatories to a statement issued by a group of
lawmakers — where they criticised the formation of the new Cabinet and said they
would withhold confidence when Parliament convenes for the vote — reportedly
increased by two names to reach 43.
Deputies in charge of the petition could not confirm the increase by Saturday
evening.
In their statement, the MPs said the House was marginalised and neglected during
the formation of the government, whose composition contradicted the King's
directives to relegate more authority to the regions of the Kingdom, as it
excluded any ministers from the south.
Other deputies however, said that the increase in the number of signatories
carried no great significance and the issue had lost momentum.
“The main issue is that we put our point across and asked for our demands to be
met,” said Deputy Abdul Jalil Maatyeh (Karak), one of the leading figures who
launched the statement.
Maatyeh said the MPs realise that the government needs time to look into their
demands.
Prime Minister Adnan Badran said that when the government was formed, the focus
was on the qualifications of the team entrusted with reform. He also indicated
in a recent meeting with the Islamic Action Front Party MPs that the government
may include two new ministers representing the southern part of the country.
“Once the vote of confidence comes up, the signatories of the statement will
meet to discuss whether their demands have been met, at least to the minimum of
expectations; then they will either endorse the new government, or withhold the
vote of confidence,” Maatyeh added. Until then, the deputies are not expected to
lobby for their demands, he added.