ASSESSMENTS

Jordan's Domestic Evolution and Regional Implications

Jun 1, 2012 | 10:00 GMT

Jordan's Domestic Evolution and Regional Implications
Jordanian Prime Minister Fayez Tarawneh at the Royal Palace in Amman on May 2

KHALIL MAZRAAWI/AFP/GettyImages

Summary

Jordanian Prime Minister Fayez Tarawneh told members of the coordination committee for opposition parties May 29 that Jordan's future Cabinets likely would be parliamentary governments, Jordan's official Petra news agency reported. Appointed in April, Tarawneh said his administration would work to hold parliamentary polls before the end of 2012. Tarawneh and opposition leaders, not including the Islamists, agreed to work to create an election law that addressed the majority's concerns, such as allowing the prime minister to come from the parliament.

Allowing parliament to choose the prime minister would be a fundamental shift in the relationship between the Jordanian monarchy, political parties and the electorate. Traditionally, the monarchy has appointed the prime minister, but a change would allow Jordanian King Abdullah II to counter growing unrest in the country while highlighting the monarch's confidence that the royal family will not lose power. By letting parliament choose, the monarchy would transfer the burden for reform and economic growth onto political parties and remove itself from direct leadership. While it may allow King Abdullah to better navigate the political turbulence manifesting throughout the Arab world, the move would create major problems for the monarchies of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), especially in Kuwait and Bahrain, where opposition forces (inside and outside parliament) have been demanding that the legislature, not the monarchy, choose the prime minister.

King Abdullah II's possible concession could quell dissent at home, but stir unrest in other Arab monarchies....

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