Jordan’s King Abdullah dissolves parliament

Jordan's King Abdullah on Sunday announced a decree to dissolve the country's parliament and appointed Hani al-Mulqi as prime minister to oversee new elections.

Jordan's constitution stipulates that a sitting government must resign within a week to pave way for a new cabinet.

The decision on Sunday to dissolve parliament did not take Jordanians by surprise as the news was expected since the passing of the 2015 Elections Law two months ago.

“When the new elections law was passed two months ago, it was decreed that a new elections would take place in either September or November of this year. In order for that to happen, parliament has to be dissolved at least four months prior, so that is why people were expecting the news,” Mohammed Husseiny, a political analyst and director of think tank - the Identity Center JO - told Al Arabiya English.

Under the new bill, Jordan has done away with the “one-person, one-vote electoral system,” and elections are now based on a large voting system, in which candidates can run for parliamentary seats on one large multimember ticket.

The bill divides the country into 23 electoral districts, one for each of the 12 governorates, except for Amman which was split into five districts, Irbid into four and Zarqa into two.

Prioritizing the economy

Tasked with overseeing an elections before the end of this year will be Mulqi, who was minister of foreign affairs and minister of industry and trade in previous years.

Given Jordan’s desire to prioritize the economy on the top of its agenda, Mulqi’s appointment did not come as a surprise to Husseiny.

“The new prime minister is well known as a specialist in economics. His appointment might be an indicator that the priorities for the coming time will be the economy.” Husseiny said.

hani al-mulqi AFP