MAJALI SPREADS THE WEALTH IN PARLIAMENTARY

C O N F I D E N T I A L AMMAN 002941

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/20/2018
TAGS: PGOV KDEM KISL JO
SUBJECT: MAJALI SPREADS THE WEALTH IN PARLIAMENTARY
LEADERSHIP ELECTIONS, INCLUDES OPPOSITION IN MINOR ROLES

REF: A. AMMAN 2757

B. AMMAN 2171

C. AMMAN 2781

Classified By: Ambassador R. Stephen Beecroft
for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (C) Summary: Jordan's parliament spent the first week of
its ordinary session electing its leadership. Abdulhadi
Al-Majali comfortably won re-election to the speakership, and
his National Democratic Trend parceled out leadership jobs
and committee chairmanships with the National Fraternal Bloc.
The loose opposition of leftists and independents was
excluded from committee chairmanships and leadership
positions altogether. In a surprise move, the Islamic Action
Front was also granted a leadership position and a role on
the Public Freedom Committee. Contacts suggested that
inclusion of the IAF was done in support of a broader
government strategy to bring Islamists back into the fold.
End Summary.

Building a Coalition
--------------


2. (SBU) As Jordan's 15th parliament concluded organizing
itself for its second session, which began October 5,
Abdulhadi Majali was re-elected speaker with 79 of 110 votes
after behind-the-scenes maneuvering in the runup to the
session (Ref A). Majali loyalist Abdullah Al-Jazy was
elected first deputy speaker with 62 votes. Throughout
September, the NDT courted the second largest bloc in
parliament, the National Fraternal Bloc (also known as
"Al-Ikha'" - Ref B). In return for the bloc's support of
Majali, it received two leadership positions: second deputy
speaker (Tayseer Shdeifat, 66 votes) and first assistant
speaker (Nasser Al-Qaisi, 58 votes). In addition, it was
allotted the chairmanship of the Legal Committee and the
Education Committee. The opposition is now reduced to the
leftists and old guard independent deputies (Ref B). This
hodgepodge formerly held several committee chairmanships,
along with the deputy speaker job. Yet in the new order,
they are completely shut out of the leadership ranks and hold
no committee chairmanships.

Islamists Included On The Margins
--------------


3. (C) Perhaps the most significant development in the
parliamentary leadership elections was the surprise selection
of Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated Islamic Action Front (IAF)
member Abdulhamid Dneibat as second assistant speaker. An
IAF member was also given the deputy role in the Public
Freedom Committee, which will give the bloc a more prominent
voice on issues such as civil liberties that it frequently
uses to criticize the government.


4. (C) Post has heard several interpretations of why the IAF
won a leadership position, despite the fact that Majali and
his associates did not actively court the IAF and that the
party did not vote for Majali as speaker. Reports in the
Islamist press triumphantly suggested that the IAF lured
independent deputies and members of the Ikha' into their
corner. Qaisi confirmed that some members of the Ikha' cast
their ballots for Dneibat, but only because the NDT candidate
for the job was weak and the group wanted to balance Majali's
influence. High level NDT contacts told us that they were
instructed to vote for the Islamists as a deliberate
political strategy of inclusion. Several NDT contacts, in
conversations with poloffs on October 19, went further in
claiming a direct link between party support for the IAF and
recent government talks with domestic Islamists and Hamas
(Ref C). They suggested (without providing details) that
inclusion of the IAF in the leadership was part of a broader
government strategy to bring Islamists back into the fold.
Beecroft