Jordan: Islamists resigned from municipality councils, in protest of a government plan to merge it
Jordan, Politics, 8/10/2001

The secretary general of the Islamic work front party Abdul Latif Arabeiyat, the main Jordanian opposition organization on Thursday announced that 83 Islamists, members or heads in the Jordanian municipal councils had resigned in protest of a government's plan aims at merging the municipal councils and appointing half of their members.

Arabeiyat considered that the government's plan which had started to be enforced as from July, is non- constitutional and is an aggression at freedoms, and also aims to minimize the Islamic movement, despite the fact that the municipal council are services councils rather than political.

Worthy mentioning that during the recent municipal elections which were held in the Summer of 1999, some 83 of the cadres of the Islamic work front party were elected either members or heads for certain municipal councils which have a total number of 328 councils including more than 1000 members.

In July, the government launched a plan aims at gradual merging of these councils and appointing half of their members and heads during the coming municipal elections in 2003 in order to reform the municipal sector which suffers a deficit of $ 100 million.

The Jordanian daily " Jordan Times " quoted on Thursday the Jordanian minister of the municipal and environmental affairs Abdul Razzq Tbeishat as saying that this plan is a sort of " a national project which does not target any side including the Islamic work Front Party."

Previous Stories:
  One Israeli was shot to death in Amman   (8/8/2001)
  Jordanian king warns his opposers from violating the constitution   (8/7/2001)
  Jordanian King accuses opposition of having links with foreign sides   (8/6/2001)

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