The extraordinary session of the Jordanian parliament witnessed the passage of laws that caused popular criticism of the members of the House of Representatives, who appeared to be surrendering to the will of the government.
It concerns the sensitivity of the legislation, and how and how quickly it is passed, amid the acknowledgment by centrist party representatives, who adopted it, that the executive authority did not do its duty in explaining and conducting real dialogues with public opinion and civil society before sending the legislation to the House of Representatives.
While MP Abdul Nasser Al-Khasawneh confirms that the government has been lax, he also points out that some ministers have worked hard with the committees.
MP Abdul Nasser Al-Khasawneh confirms that the government has been lax, while also pointing out that some ministers have worked diligently with the committees.
While Prime Minister Jaafar Hassan was not present, the majority of MPs sought to convey two messages, according to Khasawneh. First, they indicated their support for the government's proposed legislation, driven by a desire to preserve the state and its choices. Second, the MPs from the centrist parties bloc, in a politically calculated move, did not want to leave the power of objection and political posturing solely in the hands of the Islamist bloc.
Al-Khasawneh’s view is that the MPs did their duty according to what their consciences dictated towards them, and it is related to a small segment of citizens that cannot be considered representative of the electoral base.
It is true that the executive authority benefited, according to MP Firas Qablan, but the scarcity of interventions by the Prime Minister remained a remarkable matter, given that his appearance to explain, interpret and promote the laws would have been in the interest of all parties, according to Khasawneh, Qablan and other MPs.
Despite this, the enthusiasm of parliamentary committee heads in demonstrating cooperation with the government culminated in what labor activist Ahmed Abu Ghneima described as the legislative authority abandoning its supposed constitutional role of representing the people and voters, rather than reflecting the government's views. Consequently, the popularity of parliamentarians was negatively impacted by the passage of laws, most notably those concerning real estate ownership and local administration.
In this context, two issues were ignored by Hassan's government. The first was the controversy surrounding the expropriation of land and real estate for investment projects in the transportation sector. The second was the termination of the administrative decentralization project and the replacement of direct elections for provincial councils with the selection of members from among previously elected individuals.
In the first file, former minister, Khaled Kalaldeh, spoke in the Senate about changing the general pattern of the monarchy in Jordan, amidst indirect accusations of what is called in the media the approach of neoliberalism or “dangerous neoliberalism,” as described by the founder of the “Conservatives” party, Talal Al-Sharafat, who praised the left that decides to engage, as Kalaldeh did, as an example of the rational left present in power.
The government is accused of deviating from the path of political modernization due to the selection mechanism in the provincial councils and issuing a death certificate for the decentralization project.
In the second file, the government is accused of deviating from the path of political modernization due to the selection mechanism in the provincial councils, effectively issuing a death knell for the decentralization project. The first to point out the government's legislative reversal of the provisions of the political modernization document was MP Mamdouh al-Abadi, before his colleague Saleh al-Armouti, speaking on behalf of the "Islamic Current" MPs, adopted the statement that "the government's legislation has contradicted the royal vision."
In contrast, Hassan’s government does not care about those elections, as it manages its legislative priorities based on challenges and priorities, especially economic ones, knowing that its behavior is not accompanied by an achievement related to people’s livelihoods.
Unemployment is a powder keg, and Hassan’s government has borrowed again from the Social Security Fund, and external debts have not shrunk, and employment opportunities are still at rates outside the announced plans, as evidenced by the number of additional subscribers in the Social Security records, according to economic analyst Wasel Al-Mashaqbeh.
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