Jordan's government wins confidence of new parliament

Thu, 23 Dec 2010

Amman - The Jordanian government of Prime Minister Samir Rifai on Thursday won a vote of confidence with a large majority from the newly elected lower house of parliament.

The 111-9 vote came at the end of five days of debate on the government's major policy statement by the House of Representatives, which was elected on November 9.

The parliamentary elections produced a house with a majority of government loyalists as the polling process was boycotted by the country's main opposition group, the Muslim Brotherhood movement and its political arm, the Islamic Action Front (IAF).

The Brotherhood insisted on conducting the polling process on the basis of an election law that ensures proportional representation.

In a concluding statement, Rifai pledged to speed up the process of political reforms, starting with the amendment of the controversial election law towards the adoption of a system of "political pluralism".

He also vowed to fight corruption and favoritism and to upgrade laws to ensure due respect for public freedoms and human rights.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/359524,wins-confidence-new-parliament.html.