AMMAN — The
Lower House of Parliament on Monday passed amendments to the Constitution giving the
King the exclusive power to appoint or accept the resignation of and dismiss
the chief justice, head of the Sharia Judicial Council, grand mufti, Royal
Court chief, minister of the court and the King’s advisors, the Jordan News
Agency, Petra, reported.
اضافة اعلان
In a public vote, the
deputies, by a majority of 115 votes, agreed to add these powers to the second
paragraph of Article 40 of the Constitution, which defines cases in which the
King exercises exclusive powers.
After the amendment,
paragraph 2 of Article 40 of the Constitution reads as follows: "The King
shall exercise the powers vested in him by Royal decree without such decree be
countersigned by the Prime Minister and the minister or ministers concerned in
the following cases: the selection of the Crown Prince, appointment of the
Regent, appointment of the president and members of the Senate, dissolution of
the Senate and acceptance of the resignation or dismissal of any of its
members, appointment of the head of the Judicial Council and acceptance of
his/her resignation, appointment of the president and members of the Constitutional
Court and acceptance of their resignations, in addition to the appointment,
acceptance of the resignations, and dismissal of the chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff, director of the General Intelligence Department, director of
the Public Security Directorate, Chief Justice, head of the Sharia Judicial
Council, grand mufti, chief the Royal Court, minister of the court, and the
King’s advisors.”
Lawmakers struck out an
article added by the government related to the King's appointment of the two members
of the National Security and Foreign Policy Council.
Prime Minister
Bisher Al-Khasawneh said after the vote that the amendments related to the King's powers are
"completely in line with the Constitution", explaining that the
amendments aim to "distance these posts from partisan bickering to
preserve their impartiality".
The prime minister indicated
that the amendment comes with the aim of reaching a partisan government, and
thus separating the parliamentary function (legislation and oversight) from the
executive function. He pointed out that the Minister of the
Royal Court is a
job title within the organizational structure of the Royal Court, and he/she is
not a member of the Council of Ministers.
The lawmakers also
passed, by a majority of 117, an amendment to Article 44 of the Constitution,
which now reads as follows: "No minister, while holding his/her ministerial
office, may purchase or lease any state property even if the sale or lease
thereof has been offered in public auction. He/she shall not, while holding
his/her ministerial office, become a member of the board of directors of any
company or take part in any commercial or financial transaction or receive a
salary from any company." The amendment of this article was limited to
adding the phrase "while holding his/her ministerial office" after
the minister’s word at the beginning of the article, and replacing the phrase
"government property" with "state property."
But the amendment to
Article 40 did not pass without heated debate by lawmakers. MP Farid Haddad
considered one amendment, which gives the King the power to appoint the chief
justice, head of the Sharia Judicial Council, grand mufti, and to accept their
resignations without the government's signature, as taking away the
government's powers and public mandate, according to Ammon News.
For his part, the head of
the Legal Committee, Abdel Moneim Al-Awadat, responded that these amendments
came to establish a new stage in which we move towards partisan life and pave
the way for amendments to the electoral and parties’ laws.
He stressed that the
amendments contained in Article 40 came to establish this stage, which we look
forward to reaching within years, and its goal is to separate the religious and
military institutions from all interactions that may arise as a result of
reaching partisan governments.
MP Majid Al-Rawashdeh
criticized the amendment and said "we are moving from a parliamentary
monarchy towards absolute monarchy". He wondered how a government can back
amendments that takes out from its own public mandate.
Former head of the Bar
Association MP Saleh Al-Armouti rejected the proposal to expand the powers
exercised by the King by Royal decrees without the signature of the prime
minister and the concerned minister, asking: “What remains after that?”
He said that under
Article 40 the King exercises his powers through his ministers, and Article 6
says that the King exercises authority through ministers, stressing that what
is happening is “a violation of the Constitution and a violation of the
principle that the nation is the source of powers.”
For his part Khasawneh
said that the government in Jordan today is parliamentary because it had gained
the confidence of the Lower House.
He added that the model
set out for parliamentary governments in the draft amendment to the
Constitution is that the party with a majority should nominate the head of
government and its ministries while preserving the principle of separation
between executive and legislative functions.
He clarified that the
party with a majority must name the ministers noting that there are universal
examples of parliamentary governments that prevent the combination of a
ministerial post with Lower House membership.
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