NEW PARLIAMENT MEETS, ELECTS SPEAKER; ISLAMIST

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 004408

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/16/2013
TAGS: PGOV PINR PHUM KISL JO
SUBJECT: NEW PARLIAMENT MEETS, ELECTS SPEAKER; ISLAMIST
MEMBERS CAUSE A STIR OVER OATH OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE KING

REF: AMMAN 4246

Classified By: PolCouns Doug Silliman for reasons 1.5 (B)(D)

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LOWER AND UPPER HOUSES MEET IN SPECIAL SESSION
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1. (U) The Jordanian Chamber of Deputies (Lower House of
the Parliament),elected on June 17, held its first special
session July 16 and elected Saad Hayel Srour as President
(i.e. Speaker) of the house. Srour, who was speaker of the
Lower House from 1993-97, received 65 of the 110 votes.
Immediate past Speaker Abdul Hadi Majali received 40 votes.
The appointed 40-member Chamber of Notables (Upper House or
Senate) also began a concurrent special session without a
significant change of leadership. Zaid Rifai continues as
Speaker of the Senate.

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IAF CAUSES A STIR IN TAKING THE OATH OF OFFICE
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2. (U) A minor row developed at the beginning of the Lower
House session when the MPs took the oath of office. The new
MPs from the Islamic Action Front (IAF) refused to take the
standard oath pledging allegiance to the King, instead
swearing allegiance to the King as long as he remains a pious
Muslim. "We link obedience to a ruler as long as his edicts
satisfy God and attain the interests of his subjects," IAF
Secretary General Hamzah Mansour declared later to the press.

SIPDIS
Many members of the House -- dominated by pro-Monarchy and
conservative tribal MPs -- objected loudly to the IAF's move.


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COMMENT
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3. (C) Srour is well and favorably known to the Embassy.
His management of the Parliamentary review and approval of
the more than 200 "temporary laws" promulgated by the
government in the absence of Parliament -- many developed
with U.S. technical assistance -- will be key to cementing
the King's economic reform program. The IAF-caused row over
the oath of office may indicate that the IAF -- which is
heavily outnumbered and unlikely to be able to defeat
government proposed legislation in a vote -- may be willing
to break a little crockery on the floor of the Parliament to
make its ideological points.

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BIO NOTE
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4. (U) Saad Hayel Srour is from the village of Um al-Jumal
in the northern tribal areas near the Syrian border. He was
born in 1947 in Mafraq and received a degree in civil
engineering from Riyadh University, Saudi Arabia in 1970. He
worked in the Amman municipality for four years, then worked
with private firms in Saudi Arabia until 1981. He was named
a member of the National Consultative Council from 1982-84,
and was elected to the Lower House of Parliament in 1989,
1993, and 1997. He was named Minister of Water and
Irrigation in the cabinet of PM Badran in 1990, was Minister
of Public Works and Housing under PM Tahir al-Masri in 1991,
and also in PM Zaid Bin Shaker's 1991 cabinet. He was the
Speaker of the Lower House from 1993-97, and named to the
Senate after the King's dissolution of Parliament in 2001.
He resigned his Senate seat in May 2003 to run for the Lower
House. He is the son of Sheikh Hayel, leader of the Srour
tribe, which has long supported the Hashemite monarchy.


5. (C) Srour speaks reasonably good English, although he
sometimes moves between Arabic and English in a conversation.
He wears a western-style suit and tie when in Amman, but
dons traditional tribal robes when in his constituency. In a
conversation with PolCouns last week, Srour walked through
some of his ideas for reorganizing the business of the
Parliament. He lamented the fact that past members of
parliament (MPs) acted as individuals and formed alliances
only for specific issues. This, he argued, made it
impossible to organize both the priorities of house business
and speaking time on the floor. He hopes that the presence
of a well-defined Islamist bloc will encourage the formation
of other blocs in opposition to it. He is mildly encouraged
that the new crop of MPs is somewhat younger and
better-educated that past Parliaments (ref),and hopes to see
the development of a "progressive" bloc that will support the
King and government's reform agenda. He also hopes to give
greater power to Parliamentary committees which, in past
Parliaments, have not held public hearings or kept permanent
records.
HALE