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Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Jordan opposition want to limit power of king
2011-01-20
AMMAN — Jordan’s opposition on Wednesday urged constitutional amendments to curb the king’s power in naming government heads, arguing the premiership should go to the leader of the majority in parliament.

“We want constitutional amendments that would limit the king’s power in appointing whoever he wants to head a government without any constitutional restriction,” said Zaki Bani Rsheid, a head of the powerful Islamic Action Front (IAF).
Oh great, an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood. Just what we need right now.
“The leader of the majority in parliament should become prime minister, or get elected directly by the people,” he told AFP.

Under the constitution, the king names and dismisses prime ministers.

Bani Rsheid said the IAF, the political arm of Jordan’s Muslim Brotherhood, had “prepared a thorough study of the required amendments in the constitution,” which was adopted in 1952.
"It ain't Islamic enough for us! We need a caliph and an emir! Down with the King!"
The IAF on Tuesday demanded the dissolution of parliament and removal of Prime Minister Samir Rifai’s government on allegations of “fraud” in Jordan’s November election.

“The elections were marred by fraud. We have evidence of the use of tens of thousands of fake identity cards during the electoral process,” said IAF secretary general Hamzeh Mansur.

Bani Rsheid said the IAF wanted a “transitional government which should hold new, free and transparent elections on the basis of a law that is just and democratic.”

The IAF boycotted the November vote in protest at the electoral lawÂ’s under-representation of urban areas where Islamists are strong.

Bani Rsheid said the Islamists planned to organise a nationwide demonstration alongside leftist parties and trade unions to call for “political reforms as well as limiting hikes in commodity prices.”

Poverty levels are running at 25 percent in the desert kingdom, whose capital Amman is the most expensive city in the Arab world, according to several independent studies.

Unemployment is running at about 14 percent in the country of six million people, 70 percent of them under 30. But other estimates put the jobless figure at 30 percent, while the monthly minimum wage is 211 dollars a month.

Thousands of Jordanians took to the streets of the kingdom over the weekend to protest soaring prices and unemployment, despite a 169-million-dollar plan to improve their living conditions.
Posted by:Steve White

#1  Time for another Black September?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2011-01-20 01:39  

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