Jordan’s parliament has debated a wide range of reforms to the country’s constitution, which if implemented could significantly alter the governance of the 100-year-old kingdom.
Officials say the reforms, suggested by the Royal Committee to Modernise the Political System, could revitalise the monarchy while decentralising political power.
We are intent on making a qualitative jump in the political and parliamentarian life
King Abdullah
The committee, appointed by King Abdullah on June 11, drafted the proposals in an attempt to revamp existing political parties and electoral law.
Prime Minister Bisher Al Khasawneh said on Monday the draft legislation would pave the way for a prime minister emerging from a parliamentary majority, rather than one hand-picked by the monarch, a main plank of the reformist agenda favoured by a broad spectrum of political parties in the kingdom.
“It allows the leader of the country [the king] to go towards party-based governments”, he told the assembly.
King Abdullah has long expressed a desire for Jordan to become a constitutional monarchy, telling ABC News in 2007 that “monarchies have to modernise, and a way of modernising is to do these political reform issues that will give people a much larger say in the way their countries go”.
The new proposals include setting up a national security council, headed by the monarch, which falls under government jurisdiction, a move some experts and politicians see as a check on the monarchy’s power.
“We are intent on making a qualitative jump in the political and parliamentarian life,” the king told the committee’s chairman, former prime minister Samir Al Rifai. He said that he wanted reforms to “enlarge the base of participation in decision-making”.
Mr Rifai heads a 92-member committee on the reforms, which has been asked by the king to find “consensually agreed-on draft laws that guarantee gradual transition into the full realisation of future goals and the fair representation of citizens across the nation”.
Reforms could also widen the representation of women and political parties in an expanded 138-member assembly, while the candidacy age for elected deputies could be lowered to 25.
The Royal Committee to Modernise the Political System has now sent the reforms to the House Legal Committee for review.
Parliamentary speaker Abdel Karim Al Daghmi said that parliament, through a legal committee, will work to open a national dialogue with all political parties, civil society institutions and citizens to discuss the reforms.
"The committee will start working on constitutional amendments before working on election laws so that the laws will later be in harmony with the constitution," he said. The completion of the constitution, he said, would pave the way for reform laws.
Mr Al Daghmi said on Facebook that Jordan is "persistently seeking to develop partisan life, to advance the general political situation and move forward in a new phase of modernisation".
The reform effort comes as Jordan grapples with a surge in unemployment after the Covid-19 pandemic, which has hit the country’s tourism revenue hard.
Unemployment is “the biggest threat” to stability in the kingdom, according to Jordan's Minister of Finance Mohamad Al Ississ. “The numbers keep us up at night” he said in September at an event at the Washington-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies.
The kingdom is engaged in a number of economic reforms aimed at kick-starting growth.
The IMF in November called for “continued high-quality reforms to enhance the efficiency and transparency of public finances”, after revising its 2021 growth forecast down from 2.5 per cent to 2 per cent.
“Despite the challenging circumstances brought on by the pandemic, sound policies have helped maintain macroeconomic stability,” the IMF said.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
RIVER%20SPIRIT
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2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, Leon.
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
GIANT REVIEW
Starring: Amir El-Masry, Pierce Brosnan
Director: Athale
Rating: 4/5
MATCH INFO
Osasuna 1 Real Madrid 4
Osasuna: García (14')
Real Madrid: Isco (33'), Ramos (38'), Vázquez (84'), Jovic (90' 2)
'Nope'
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Brief scoreline:
Manchester United 0
Manchester City 2
Bernardo Silva 54', Sane 66'
Read more about the coronavirus
ABU%20DHABI'S%20KEY%20TOURISM%20GOALS%3A%20BY%20THE%20NUMBERS
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White hydrogen: Naturally occurring hydrogen
Chromite: Hard, metallic mineral containing iron oxide and chromium oxide
Ultramafic rocks: Dark-coloured rocks rich in magnesium or iron with very low silica content
Ophiolite: A section of the earth’s crust, which is oceanic in nature that has since been uplifted and exposed on land
Olivine: A commonly occurring magnesium iron silicate mineral that derives its name for its olive-green yellow-green colour
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
THE SPECS
Engine: Four-cylinder 2.5-litre
Transmission: Seven-speed auto
Power: 165hp
Torque: 241Nm
Price: Dh99,900 to Dh134,000
On sale: now
Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere
Director: Scott Cooper
Starring: Jeremy Allen White, Odessa Young, Jeremy Strong
Rating: 4/5
Other must-tries
Tomato and walnut salad
A lesson in simple, seasonal eating. Wedges of tomato, chunks of cucumber, thinly sliced red onion, coriander or parsley leaves, and perhaps some fresh dill are drizzled with a crushed walnut and garlic dressing. Do consider yourself warned: if you eat this salad in Georgia during the summer months, the tomatoes will be so ripe and flavourful that every tomato you eat from that day forth will taste lacklustre in comparison.
Badrijani nigvzit
A delicious vegetarian snack or starter. It consists of thinly sliced, fried then cooled aubergine smothered with a thick and creamy walnut sauce and folded or rolled. Take note, even though it seems like you should be able to pick these morsels up with your hands, they’re not as durable as they look. A knife and fork is the way to go.
Pkhali
This healthy little dish (a nice antidote to the khachapuri) is usually made with steamed then chopped cabbage, spinach, beetroot or green beans, combined with walnuts, garlic and herbs to make a vegetable pâté or paste. The mix is then often formed into rounds, chilled in the fridge and topped with pomegranate seeds before being served.
Best Foreign Language Film nominees
Capernaum (Lebanon)
Cold War (Poland)
Never Look Away (Germany)
Roma (Mexico)
Shoplifters (Japan)
if you go
Getting there
Etihad (Etihad.com), Emirates (emirates.com) and Air France (www.airfrance.com) fly to Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport, from Abu Dhabi and Dubai respectively. Return flights cost from around Dh3,785. It takes about 40 minutes to get from Paris to Compiègne by train, with return tickets costing €19. The Glade of the Armistice is 6.6km east of the railway station.
Staying there
On a handsome, tree-lined street near the Chateau’s park, La Parenthèse du Rond Royal (laparenthesedurondroyal.com) offers spacious b&b accommodation with thoughtful design touches. Lots of natural woods, old fashioned travelling trunks as decoration and multi-nozzle showers are part of the look, while there are free bikes for those who want to cycle to the glade. Prices start at €120 a night.
More information: musee-armistice-14-18.fr ; compiegne-tourisme.fr; uk.france.fr
Ruwais timeline
1971 Abu Dhabi National Oil Company established
1980 Ruwais Housing Complex built, located 10 kilometres away from industrial plants
1982 120,000 bpd capacity Ruwais refinery complex officially inaugurated by the founder of the UAE Sheikh Zayed
1984 Second phase of Ruwais Housing Complex built. Today the 7,000-unit complex houses some 24,000 people.
1985 The refinery is expanded with the commissioning of a 27,000 b/d hydro cracker complex
2009 Plans announced to build $1.2 billion fertilizer plant in Ruwais, producing urea
2010 Adnoc awards $10bn contracts for expansion of Ruwais refinery, to double capacity from 415,000 bpd
2014 Ruwais 261-outlet shopping mall opens
2014 Production starts at newly expanded Ruwais refinery, providing jet fuel and diesel and allowing the UAE to be self-sufficient for petrol supplies
2014 Etihad Rail begins transportation of sulphur from Shah and Habshan to Ruwais for export
2017 Aldar Academies to operate Adnoc’s schools including in Ruwais from September. Eight schools operate in total within the housing complex.
2018 Adnoc announces plans to invest $3.1 billion on upgrading its Ruwais refinery
2018 NMC Healthcare selected to manage operations of Ruwais Hospital
2018 Adnoc announces new downstream strategy at event in Abu Dhabi on May 13
Source: The National
ANATOMY%20OF%20A%20FALL
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The view from The National
FIGHT INFO
Men’s 60kg Round 1:
Ahmad Shuja Jamal (AFG) beat Krisada Takhiankliang (THA) - points
Hyan Aljmyah (SYR) beat Akram Alyminee (YEM) - retired Round 1
Ibrahim Bilal (UAE) beat Bhanu Pratap Pandit (IND) - TKO Round 1
Men’s 71kg Round 1:
Seyed Kaveh Soleyman (IRI) beat Abedel Rahman (JOR) - RSC round 3.
Amine Al Moatassime (UAE) walk over Ritiz Puri (NEP)
ZIMBABWE V UAE, ODI SERIES
All matches at the Harare Sports Club:
1st ODI, Wednesday - Zimbabwe won by 7 wickets
2nd ODI, Friday, April 12
3rd ODI, Sunday, April 14
4th ODI, Tuesday, April 16
UAE squad: Mohammed Naveed (captain), Rohan Mustafa, Ashfaq Ahmed, Shaiman Anwar, Mohammed Usman, CP Rizwan, Chirag Suri, Mohammed Boota, Ghulam Shabber, Sultan Ahmed, Imran Haider, Amir Hayat, Zahoor Khan, Qadeer Ahmed
