Jordan Times
Tuesday, September 20, 2005
Deliberations on
Elections Law to be wrapped up next week
By Mohammad Ghazal
AMMAN — The Steering Committee for the National Agenda has completed deliberations on all targeted fields except for the Elections Law, which will be wrapped up next week, a senior official said on Monday.
At his weekly press briefing yesterday, Deputy
Prime Minister Marwan Muasher said the Political Development Subcommittee came
up with several recommendations on the law and reported to the Steering
Committee, which is currently discussing these suggestions.
“The committee is done with half of the discussions on the proposed law,
although there were different views on it,” Muasher said.
The minister did not go into the details of the proposals, saying that the
agenda would be publicised after it is presented to His Majesty King Abdullah
before the end of this month.
News reports have said that the Steering Committee has adopted a voting system
under which each eligible voter elects a Lower House member from his/her
district and another candidate from any other district in the Kingdom.
This proposal is reportedly set to replace the controversial Elections Law. The
one-person, one-vote system, enacted in 1993 under the tenure of former prime
minister Abdul Salam Majali, was seen as unfair. Many observers believe that the
system created “unequal representation” of the country's constituencies, and was
designed to ensure the incumbency of a pro-government majority in Parliament.
Several meetings will be held next week to reach consensus among committee's
members on the proposed law, which the Political Development Subcommittee held
deliberations on, Muasher said.
Muasher, who heads the Steering Committee for the National Agenda, said he
expects things to go smoothly at the meetings and reiterated that the agenda
would ensure more freedoms for citizens.
The 26-member committee was formed in February upon directives by King Abdullah
to set the guidelines for policy-making during the next 10 years. The committee
is assisted by subcommittees comprising 200 experts in the targeted fields from
the public and private sectors and academia.