JORDAN'S PARLIAMENT ENDS RAUCOUS AND UNPRODUCTIVE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 000378

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/05/2019
TAGS: PGOV KDEM JO
SUBJECT: JORDAN'S PARLIAMENT ENDS RAUCOUS AND UNPRODUCTIVE
SESSION

REF: A. AMMAN 242

B. 08 AMMAN 3335

C. 08 AMMAN 2941

AMMAN 00000378 001.2 OF 002


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


1. (C) Summary: Parliament ended its ordinary session on
February 4 having passed few bills of consequence during a
four-month term. MPs were more focused on the Gaza crisis
and internal quarrels than on legislative business. For its
part, the cabinet failed to forward key pieces of legislation
on to the lower house for consideration, delaying action on a
number of hoped-for statutes. The cabinet may have held back
bills for an extraordinary session when the set agenda leaves
little room for parliamentary debate, streamlining the
passage of complicated legislation. End Summary.

Unproductive Session Ends
--------------


2. (SBU) The ordinary session of Jordan's parliament ended
on February 4 after four months of work that resulted in the
passage of twenty laws. Beyond the 2009 budget and a welcome
anti-trafficking in persons statute (Ref A),parliament's
output included the following:

-- Amendments to the Jordan Medical Association Law
-- Amendments to the Nursing Law
-- Law to Abolish the Higher Media Council
-- Youth Welfare Law
-- International Convention Against Doping in Sport
-- Amendments to the Higher Education and Scientific Research
Law
-- Amendments to the Antiquities Law
-- Amendments to the Jordanian Medical Board Law
-- Jordanian Red Crescent Law
-- 2009 Budget Law
-- Amendments to the Law on Wounded Military Personnel
-- Law to Combat AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria
-- Approval of the Provisional Medical Research Laws of 2001
and 2003
-- Iftaa (Fatwa Authority) Law
-- Agricultural Risk Fund Law
-- Livestock Support Fund Law
-- Independent Government Units Law
-- Law on the Confiscation and Transaction of Immovable
Properties

The Government Bottleneck
--------------


3. (C) In large part, the lack of substantive legislation
from this session was due to the Cabinet's failure to move
forward key bills to the lower house. Draft economic reforms
that stalled during the cabinet approval process or were held
back from lower house consideration include a comprehensive
tax reform bill, social security reform, amendments to
Jordan's labor law, a new copyright law, an energy law, and a
landlords and tenants law. Proposed political reforms that
remain in the cabinet include a wide-ranging penal code
reform bill, a law on minor prisoners, and amendments to the
controversial law on associations.


4. (C) Several laws were introduced in the final week of the
parliamentary session, giving parliament little or no time
for action. After the Ambassador pressed the Prime Minister,
Foreign Minister, and Chief of the Royal Court for movement
on laws of bilateral interest, the government sent parliament
the trafficking-in-persons law, Jordan Institute for
Standards and Metrology law (key for implementation of the
US-Jordan Free Trade Agreement),and a customs reform law.
Only the statute to combat trafficking in persons was passed.
The next opportunity for the cabinet to move forward draft
legislation for parliament's consideration will likely be
during an extraordinary session over the summer.

Focus on External and Internal Conflicts
--------------


5. (SBU) From the end of December onwards, several sessions
in the lower house were dominated by passionate debates on
the Gaza crisis. Islamic Action Front MPs, in particular,
used these sessions to broadcast their views and chastise the
government. In a bid to capitalize on public outrage over
Gaza, MPs from across the political spectrum started a drive
to bring legal action against Israel for war crimes. MP
Mubarak Abbadi, the pro-business head of parliament's legal
committee, led the charge, personally bringing a petition
from Jordan's parliament to the International Criminal Court
in The Hague.

AMMAN 00000378 002.2 OF 002




6. (SBU) Internal quarrels and jealousies following
leadership elections also marked the session. A bloc of
secular opposition MPs, angry after being denied leadership
positions, staged walkouts on several occasions. In other
sessions, deputies from the bloc used question-and-answer
time to launch personal attacks against other MPs designed to
demonstrate that speaker Abdulhadi Al-Majali (despite his
theoretical command of a majority of MPs) was unable to
maintain order.


7. (SBU) Speaker Majali adjourned the final meeting of the
ordinary session after a verbal altercation between former PM
Abdulraouf Rawabdeh and Islamic Action Front (IAF) deputy
Hamzah Mansour grew into a brawl. Rawabdeh reportedly chided
the IAF for its support of Hamas, calling it "harmful to the
country". Mansour responded by implying that Rawabdeh
supported Israel's attack on Gaza. The exchange caused a
flurry of shouting between pro-establishment MPs and those
from the IAF that escalated into MPs throwing piles of paper
and bottles of water.

Worse than Zimbabwe?
--------------


8. (C) The session drew a new round of condemnation from the
lower house's many critics. Senator and former PM Taher
Al-Masri told poloff that the current parliament is "worse
than Zimbabwe's." Grumbling about parliament's weakness has
spread during the past month through Amman's political
salons, and prompted a statement by the Islamic Action Front
calling for early elections. (Note: The next round of
parliamentary elections is not supposed to take place until

2011. End Note.) Speaking to the political gossip website
Ammonnews, lower house speaker Abdulhadi Al-Majali said that
he was "aware of such talk" but gave it little credence.


9. (C) Comment: While some contacts blame MPs for
Parliament's lack of effectiveness, it is clear that PM Nader
Al-Dahabi and his Cabinet failed to move forward key
legislation. The PM may have been trying to avoid
parliamentary scrutiny in the middle of the Gaza crisis, but
Dahabi's personality may also be part of the equation.
Dahabi is methodical but also cautious in what he sends
forward to parliament, recognizing that rogue MPs may spin
issues to their own political gain. The government may have
also held back bills for an extraordinary session when the
agenda is set by the King and there is little opportunity for
debate. In that case, bills tend to receive an up or down
vote, streamlining the passage of complicated legislation.
End Comment.
Beecroft