PARLIAMENT OPENS, ERRANT MP'S SWEAR PROPER OATH; GOJ BEGINS TO FEEL PARLIAMENTARY PRESSURE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 AMMAN 004764 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/30/2013 TAGS: PGOV PHUM ECON SOCI JO SUBJECT: PARLIAMENT OPENS, ERRANT MP'S SWEAR PROPER OATH; GOJ BEGINS TO FEEL PARLIAMENTARY PRESSURE REF: A. AMMAN 4408 ¶B. AMMAN 4533 ¶C. AMMAN 4577 ¶D. AMMAN 4246 Classified By: PolCouns Doug Silliman for reasons 1.5 (B)(D) -------------- SUMMARY -------------- ¶1. (C) The just-begun special session of the Parliament will examine Parliamentary bylaws, consider a vote of confidence in the new cabinet, begin to examine more than 200 temporary laws promulgated by the government, and adjudicate complaints of irregularities in the June polls. The Lower House has formed 14 committees -- and also required 30 MPs who added words to their oath of office to retake the correct constitutional oath. The new Speaker, Secretary General, and some MPs with whom we have spoken believe the membership of the new Parliament is generally younger and better educated than in the past, and hope this is a good sign for democracy in Jordan. One dissenting MP is reserving judgment, and is already complaining that many of his colleagues seem more concerned with their own personal perks than the common good. Government ministers expect pressure from new MPs for greater spending and more favors, and seem to view the new Parliament with a mix of trepidation and paternalism. END SUMMARY. -------------- -------------- PARLIAMENTARY AGENDA - BYLAWS, VOTE OF CONFIDENCE... -------------- -------------- ¶2. (C) The newly elected Parliament has begun thrice-weekly meetings in a special summer session which is scheduled to run through the end of September. DCM and PolCouns paid a courtesy call July 21 on the newly elected speaker, Saad Hayel Srour (ref a). Srour said his priorities for the special session would include changing the internal rules of Parliament to make its work more efficient, dealing with a vote of confidence in the new government, and examining the more than 200 "temporary laws" the government had promulgated in the absence of Parliament. On parliamentary by-laws, Srour said he wanted to increase the size of committees to reflect the new, larger house, and reform debate on the floor of the house so that not all MPs have the right to speak on all issues. Lower House Secretary General, Dr. Mohammad Masalha, told PolCouns July 29 that he expects the MPs to vote for an increase of committee size from 11 to 13 or 15. 
¶3. (C) Masalha said that PM Ali Abul Ragheb would come to the Parliament on August 6 and formally present his reshuffled government (refs b and c) for a vote of confidence. Srour commented that he expected at least 3-4 days of debate on the new government, debate that would likely include a large number of personal attacks on ministers. In the end, he said, the government could be assured of getting at least 70 of the 110 votes. He commented that, in his discussions with Abul Ragheb, the PM seemed more confident and energetic than he had earlier in the year. -------------- ...AND MORE THAN 200 TEMPORARY LAWS -------------- ¶4. (C) Srour said the real meat of the special session would be examining the more than 200 temporary laws promulgated by the government in the absence of Parliament. Masalha said the government had formally sent 211 temporary laws to the Parliament for review, and that the Parliament would begin to distribute these laws to committees on July ¶30. According to current plans, Masalha said, the Speaker hopes to conduct most of the review of these laws in the appropriate committees, thereby reducing the time spent on debate in the full Parliament. He expected that only a fraction of these laws would actually come to a vote during this special session, and that the task would extend well into the regular session which will begin in the Fall. DCM emphasized to the Speaker the importance to Jordan of unamended passage of many of the temporary laws, especially those tied to Jordan's WTO membership, the U.S.-Jordan FTA, and general economic reform. -------------- ...AND DON'T FORGET ELECTORAL COMPLAINTS -------------- ¶5. (C) Masalha said that seven committees had been formed to investigate the 54 complaints of irregularities in the June 17 voting (ref d). He said that no member would be permitted to sit on a committee that would hear a complaint that could affect the results of his/her election. The MPs had also finalized on July 28 membership in the fourteen standing committees of the Lower House. The committees will meet in the next week and select Chairpersons, Masalha said. -------------- AN OATH RETAKEN - CORRECTLY THIS TIME -------------- ¶6. (C) Srour told DCM that MPs from the Islamic Action Front had added several words to the end of their original oaths of office, adding an allegiance to God, the Quran, and the prophet Mohammad (ref a). "This was a message for their street," Srour declared. Several other MPs had subsequently added different words to their oaths supporting Jordanian democracy or the "Jordan First" campaign. Srour blamed the problem on the fact that, by tradition, the oldest MP chairs the opening session of Parliament until the election of the Speaker. Srour commented that Abdul Hafeez al-Heet, the oldest member in the current Parliament, had no previous Parliamentary experience, and the IAF had taken advantage of his age. "He was not up to the challenge." He said he told the IAF and other errant MPs that they must return to the constitutional basis for working in the Parliament. ¶7. (C) Masalha confirmed that all 30 members who had added words to their oaths -- including those from the IAF -- had retaken the proper constitutional oath during the session on July 28. The members had been permitted to make short remarks prefacing their oaths, Masalha remarked, although few actually did. A constitutional committee had decided that the MPs must retake the oath, but also decided that the actions of the house up to the second oath taking -- including election of a speaker and selection of committees -- were valid. -------------- YOUNGER, BETTER EDUCATED PARLIAMENT -------------- ¶8. (C) Srour described the new MPs as generally younger and better educated than past Parliaments -- he counted 49 engineers, 18 medical doctors, and numerous Ph.D. holders (see ref d). He commented that tribal areas, especially the Central Badia (which elected three doctors) had chosen educated MPs who in many cases had defeated their tribal sheikhs. In selecting more educated and professional MPs, Srour argued, voters did not listen to fiery speeches or their tribal sheikhs, but rather "used their minds" to select their representatives. ¶9. (C) Masalha and MP Mohammad Arsalan, winner of the Chechen seat from Zarqa, agreed substantially with this assessment. Arsalan told PolCouns that he has been impressed with the energy and seriousness of his new colleagues. Arsalan, who is a past Secretary General of the Zarqa Chamber of Commerce and will sit on the Economic and Finance Committee, said that he has already found 8 MPs who plan to found with him a "reformist" bloc. He said that "progressive thinking" MPs had secured a majority of the seats on the Economic and Finance Committee, and he hoped this would ensure passage of the temporary laws associated with WTO accession, the U.S.-Jordan FTA, and the King's economic liberalization program without significant amendment. ¶10. (C) Another new MP, Mohammad Suleiman al-Shawabkeh from Madaba, held a less optimistic view of the new Parliament. He told PolCouns that he had already found that many MPs are more concerned with securing their own personal perks of office than with properly organizing their work or cementing voting blocs. Shawabkeh fears that clientitis and "wasta" could quickly overwhelm most members, who are likely to rubber stamp the government's temporary laws rather than take the time to understand and evaluate them. Senator Marwan Kasim told the DCM that he did not expect the quality of MPs to improve, but that the Parliament must, at a minimum, regularly question PM Abul Ragheb and his ministers to keep them honest. (Note. SecGen Masalha confirmed that every fourth session is reserved for questions for the government -- about once every ten days. End note.) -------------- GOVERNMENT BRACES FOR MP'S REQUESTS -------------- ¶11. (C) Conversations with government ministers indicate that several view the new Parliament with a mix of trepidation and paternalism. Finance Minister Michel Marto told the DCM that he would likely come under pressure from new MPs "to spend money." He noted, however, that he had "dealt with Parliaments before" and would just have to educate MPs on the fiscal realities of Jordan. Similarly, Planning Minister Bassam Awadallah (whose courtesy call from the DCM was delayed when an MP barged into his office with a constituent request) described the new MPs as "not that serious" and only looking for favors. He, too, expects pressure from the Parliament for project and spending increases. ¶12. (C) Ministers expect pressures in other areas as well. New Information Minister Nabil Sharif told the Ambassador and DCM July 30 that several MPs had complained that Jordan Television had not carried their speeches in the opening session of the Parliament. "We can't carry fifty speeches every day," Sharif complained. He also was troubled by signs of an anti-reform, anti-IMF mood in some quarters of Parliament. New Deputy PM and Minister for Economic Affairs Mohammad Halaiqa said that the Parliament had approved government budgets from 2001 and 2002 by voice vote July 30, but had postponed a vote on privatization at the request of IAF deputies. The IAF, he explained, is not opposed to privatization, but wants to know where the proceeds of privatization have gone. "We are in for a rough ride," Halaiqa commented. But in the end, he was confident that the government would pass the temporary laws related to economic restructuring and modernization. -------------- COMMENT -------------- ¶13. (C) One opinion expressed by all MPs with whom we spoke -- and many political observers and pundits as well -- is that the absence of Parliament over the past two and a half years created a large hole in Jordanian political discourse, and it is good to have Parliament back in session. What remains to be seen is whether the "younger, better educated" but still tribal-dominated Parliament will perform better then its predecessors, and how the government will cope with the exercise of (even just a little) Parliamentary authority. GNEHM