Eid vacation a chance to forge House alliances

By Khetam Malkawi

AMMAN - Some members of the 16th Lower House spent the Eid Al Adha holiday contacting and lobbying their colleagues to form parliamentary blocs, deputies-elect said on Saturday.

According to parliamentary sources, two blocs were formed over the past few days, while another two to four are still in the process of establishing themselves.

One of the recently founded blocs is the National Current, affiliated with the National Current Party, which started as a bloc in the dissolved 15th Parliament.

The 17-strong bloc elected Saturday Mohammad Thweib (Amman, 2nd District) as president and decided to support Jerash MP Mefleh Ruheimi’s pursuit to become House speaker, sources from the alliance said.

The 18-member National Accord bloc, headed by Zarqa First District Deputy Mirza Bollad, was also established on Friday.

The establishment of a third bloc is expected to be announced today as well, according to MP Jamil Nimri (Irbid, Second District), who told The Jordan Times that a number of leftist deputies will meet to discuss the bylaw of their bloc.

He noted that the bloc has eight members but its final membership is expected to reach 12 as other left-wing deputies will join it.

A fourth bloc is also in the making and will be announced soon, according to Amman Third District representative Ahmad Safadi.

He told The Jordan Times that a meeting will be held today to officially announce the group, which is expected to consist of 20 members.

According to Safadi, Karak Third District MP Atef Tarawneh, who also previously announced that he would run for speaker, is a member of this bloc.

Also yesterday, Amman Second District MP Mohammad Halaiqa told The Jordan Times that he had begun contacting his colleagues to form a bloc at the House, which he said will be “patriotic” in character and work to reclaim the Lower House’s role in governance.

The new House, which was elected on November 9, is expected to be summoned on November 28.

According to Article 78 of the Constitution, Parliament is to be summoned by a Royal Decree to begin its ordinary session on October 1 of each year, but the starting date can be postponed by up to two months. In their first session, lawmakers are scheduled to elect a speaker and members of the permanent office (two deputies and two assistants).

Meanwhile, changes are expected to take place soon in the make-up and possibly the size of the Senate, MPs and commentators said, after five senators resigned their positions to run for seats in the Lower House, and a sixth left to take up the presidency of the Anti-Corruption Commission.

These members of the 55-seat Upper House are expected to be replaced by Royal appointment in accordance with the Constitution.

Political analyst Mohammad Abu Rumman added that the Senate, which is constitutionally required to have no more than one half as many seats as the Lower House, may increase in size to 60 seats, now that the Lower House has 120 seats instead of 110.

21 November 2010

Source: The Jordan Times.
Link: http://jordantimes.com/?news=31943.