Jordanians protesters call for dissolution of parliament

Fri, 11 Mar 2011

Amman - Hundreds of Jordanian activists demonstrated after Friday prayers, urging King Abdullah II to dissolve parliament.

The participants, mostly members of pro-democracy groups, argued that that parliament's lower house, which was elected in November last year, does not represent the Jordanian people.

The polls were boycotted by the country's largest opposition group, the Muslim Brotherhood movement and its political arm, the Islamic Action Front (IAF), as well as by the allied left-leaning Public Unity Party.

Friday's demonstration coincided with calls by some opposition figures to turn Jordan into a constitutional monarchy that envisages certain limitations for the monarch's powers, particularly the appointment of prime ministers and governments.

Prime Minister Marouf Bakhit told newspapers on Thursday that calls for a constitutional monarchy were nothing more than "media propaganda," since the 1952 constitution already provided for a system of constitutional monarchy.

However, he expressed his government's readiness to "review" subsequent amendments introduced into the constitution.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/371268,protesters-call-dissolution-parliament.html.