PARLIAMENT OPENS, ERRANT MP'S SWEAR PROPER OATH;

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)

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SUMMARY
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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.

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PARLIAMENTARY AGENDA - BYLAWS, VOTE OF CONFIDENCE...
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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.

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...AND MORE THAN 200 TEMPORARY LAWS
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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.

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...AND DON'T FORGET ELECTORAL COMPLAINTS
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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.

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AN OATH RETAKEN - CORRECTLY THIS TIME
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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.

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YOUNGER, BETTER EDUCATED PARLIAMENT
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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.)

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GOVERNMENT BRACES FOR MP'S REQUESTS
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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.

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COMMENT
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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