Jordan Times
Saturday, June 27, 1998
Revamped leftist party publishes new platform, finalises internal elections
By Francesca Ciriaci
AMMAN — The recently re-christened Democratic Party of the Left
(DPL), formerly known as the Jordanian Democratic Unionist Party (JDUP), Thursday
completed an overall restructuring programme with the election of the party's
administrative, organisational and disciplinary bodies and the publication of its
platform.
Proposals for substantial reforms in the mechanism for the formation of the government,
introduction of partial proportionality in the electoral system, public funding of
political parties, and limitations to the government's privatisation drive topped the
DPL's platform.
Former JDUP Secretary General Musa Ma'aitah was re-elected at the helm of the DPL, while
veteran leader Issa Madanat, one of the founders of the Arab leftist movement, was named
honorary president by acclamation.
A string of young intellectuals and researchers, previously at the fringes of party life,
were included in the party's 10-member executive committee.
Party members said the election of Tayseer Masharga, a researcher in social sciences and
mass media, and journalist Fahed Khittan, both in their early thirties, will provide the
party with much-needed “new blood” that, in the view of many, has so far made
the difference between leftists and Islamist groups, helping the latter gain ground over
the leftists in recent years.
The 68-member National Council, two-thirds of which was elected last week on a regional
basis, Thursday also elected the disciplinary committee, headed by Ghanem Zureiqat.
In its new platform, the party asked for parliamentary consultations to be held before,
and not after, the prime minister's appointment to boost Parliament's role and ensure the
formation of a parliamentary majority.
The party proposed the introduction of a proportional system on a national basis to elect
20 of the 80 Lower House deputies.
“This would `politicise' parliamentary elections, which are still characterised by
tribalism, by stimulating political parties to present their tickets at the national
level, and would be a step towards a fully proportional system,” said journalist
Jamil Nimri, who was elected on Thursday as president of the national council.
The DPL's platform states that public funding to Jordan's 20 cash-strapped political
parties would provide fertile ground for the development of pluralism and “political
party culture,” seen by many analysts as one of the requirements to speed up the
democratisation process.
At the economic level, the DPL rejects the government's privatisation drive, saying that
public service companies, such as the Jordan Electricity Company (JEC) and the Jordan
Telecommunications Company (JTC), should remain public.
“The JEC and JTC should remain public property, while some shares should be
transferred to those companies' employees, thus increasing the companies'
productivity,” Mr. Nimri said.
To lay the foundations of “a social justice system,” the DPL urged the election
of workers' representatives to companies' boards of directors.
“Workers would be given the opportunity to defend their rights, while cases of
fraudulent bankruptcy which have occurred in the past would not be repeated,” Mr.
Nimri said.
The former JDUP voted on June 19 by an overwhelming majority for the change to the new
name, inspired by the Italian eponymous party currently at the head of Italy's ruling
centre-leftist coalition.
Party sources told the Jordan Times that the new name had been floating for almost one
year and that the previous name was a compromise to accommodate nationalists who joined
the party at its formation.
The former JDUP was born in 1995 from the merger of three leftist parties: the Jordan
Popular Democratic Party, the Social Democratic Party, and the Jordanian Arab Democratic
Party.
“At that time we had to include the word `unionist' in the party's name in order to
accommodate all components,” a party leader said.
“But, later, most of the nationalists who had insisted on the old name left the
party. Now that we are a homogeneous leftist entity, we can call things by their real
name.”