In Amman, Oula Farawati looks at King Abdullah's decision to dissolve parliament Only two years after the last election, Jordan's monarch has sent deputies packing. The Royal Decree issued late on Monday, only three days before Eid Al-Adha, was short and precise. It dissolved parliament according to the constitution, and was followed by another decree calling for new elections. What does it mean when parliament is dissolved so abruptly, two years before its four- year tenure is finished? Jordanian analysts and columnists were quick to point out that parliament was dissolved because it was "weak, corrupt and did not fulfil its duties to a six-million citizen population" plagued by the twin ills of poverty and unemployment, and hungry for political openness and participation. What was evident was also the sheer joy that citizens expressed after hearing the news. The kingdom's news websites were bombarded with joyful comments by Jordanians, thanking the king for "getting rid of a parasite that afflicted the country and wasted its resources," one happy commentator wrote on Khaberni.com. The outgoing parliament was very unpopular. A recent poll by the Centre for Strategic Studies at the University of Jordan on the performance of the House of Representatives showed that 71 per cent of opinion leaders in Jordan were unhappy with the performance of the current parliament since the day it was elected, while only 29 per cent said they were "satisfied". A whopping 42 per cent of respondents to this poll supported dissolving the council before the end of his term. Eighty-nine per cent of leaders of political parties were dissatisfied. Mustafa Hamarneh, publisher of Al-Sijill, said parliament simply deserved to be dissolved. "Parliament was not credible and the elections that brought those deputies to their seats were rigged under a backward election law that does not promote change," he told Al-Ahram Weekly. It is widely believed among the public that the elections were manipulated. Many incidents of vote-buying and multiple voting were witnessed by Jordanians, who already were sceptical of the outgoing house's ability to carry out its tasks. The polls, which were held in November 2007, produced a traditional tribal parliament with the one-man, one-vote election system pressuring Jordanians into choosing a "family" member and hijacking any chance for a politically-diverse house. The outgoing parliament, which was Jordan's 15th since the resumption of political life in 1989, was set to face a myriad of contentious political and economic issues starting with rising prices and the troubled neighbourhoods in bordering Palestine, Iraq and Lebanon. But parliament was shallow; it focussed on services and shied away from pressing issues internally and externally. It was keen on achieving personal gains for deputies, starting with high salaries and ending with customs-exempt cars. "The resolution of the house is a condemnation of that political stage. It opens the door for wide changes that Jordanians have hoped for," columnist Samih Maaita wrote in Al-Ghad. Political analyst Mohamed Kaawash agreed: "We are living through a difficult stage both on the political and economic fronts and the kingdom's legislative authority needed to be up to these challenges," he said. "Royal reform measures may follow. They will give those qualified and competent to hold such responsibilities a new opportunity to engage politically and run in the elections. We bet on the citizens to become more aware of the need to produce a parliament that is accountable that acts according to the interests of the people and the nation, while strengthening the democratic process," he added. But what are the prerequisites for new elections? Analysts focussed on the election law as most important for a fair and representative house. "Changes have major goals we hope to occur. We badly need the return of confidence in the Jordanian parliament," Maaita said. For Hamarneh, it was imperative that the election law is changed. He also calls for a special committee to observe the upcoming elections and make sure they are not rigged. "We really need the elections to be held in utmost transparency and freedom. This is what we need," he said. Columnist Sami Zubaidi seems to be sure that the fact that parliament has been dissolved means that political change is on the horizon. "But the king is not talking about a simple change here and there. He wants a change in the public mood of the country, meaning that the process of moving to another level of political exchange is here. He closes the page of this political era and opens a fresh one based on modernity, innovation and modernisation while preserving the national principles," he wrote. The government has four months to declare new elections but lawmakers say the constitution allows the king to delay them.
