Global Issues
Jordan Feels a Jolt
The wave of political protests that has struck parts of the Middle East and North Africa over the past few weeks has also affected the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. The protest movement here, initiated in the wake of the Tunisian Jasmine revolution, underscores the population’s demand for political reform.
A movement of discontent over rising prices kicked off early in January in the city of Theiban, south of Amman. Some 200 demonstrators demanded that the government take greater control over prices and initiate more anti- corruption efforts. The movement gained momentum with protests erupting in Karak and Irbid.
At the end of January, 3,500 people rallied in Amman, led by Islamist opposition groups, leftist organisations and trade unions. They denounced the policies of Prime Minister Samir Rifai. Jordan's economy has a deficit of 1.6 billion dollars. It is largely dependent on foreign aid and investment to finance deficits in the budget, while poverty and unemployment run rampant.
Rifai’s announcement of a 550-million dollar subsidy package for fuel and staple products - like rice and sugar - did little to quell the people’s anger. He was quickly ousted and his government dissolved by King Abdullah II. 'There is a growing feeling of disparity between the economic elite, which is corrupt, and the rest of the population,' says Mohamad Al-Masri, researcher at the Centre for Strategic Studies at the University of Jordan. In the Jordanian countryside poverty is more apparent, while the flourishing business elite lives in wealthy Amman neighbourhoods, Masri said.
In recent weeks, the protestors’ demands have morphed into a request for greater political reform. 'We want a government chosen by the majority of the Jordanian people and we want a balance of power. We will protest until our demands are taken seriously,' Hamzah Mansour, general secretary of the Islamic Action Front (IAF), the political arm of the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood, told the Jordan Times.
The opposition, spearheaded by the IAF, has called for dissolution of the Jordanian parliament, which they claim came to power in the 2009 election because of fraud. It is also demanding new election laws that respect proportional representation, as well as an amendment to the Public Gatherings Law.
'They are also asking for the reactivation of the 1952 constitution, which provided the legislative body greater oversight over the executive,' says Masri. Today, power is mostly in the hands of the king, who appoints the prime minister and can dissolve the parliament as well as the government.
The IAF’s call has been echoed in political blogs around Jordan. Blogger Khadder, author of the blog ‘Jordanian Issues’, asked how the king could so easily dismiss a prime minister 'who had been granted 95 percent of parliament’s votes?' He went on to question the role of government institutions and their legitimacy.
© Inter Press Service (2011) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service