Jordanian legislative elections on June 17
Jordan, Politics, 2/28/2003

The Jordanian prime minister Ali Abul Ragheb announced that the legislative elections in Jordan will be on June 17.

On February 24th, the Jordanian King Abdullah II called for carrying out the elections according to the constitution, on the ground that the Jordanian parliament is solved since June, 2001.

However, Abul Ragheb vowed that the coming elections to be "honest and smooth," expressing his hope that all political forces in the country will take part in it.

The parliamentary elections were due in Jordan in September 2002, but the Jordanian King Abdullah ordered for its postponement until the spring of 2003.

The Jordanian opposition always criticizes the absence of the parliamentary life and calls for a date to carry out the parliamentary elections.

In 1997, the Islamic labor work ( Jabhart al-Amal al-Islami), one of the main opposition parties, boycotted the parliamentary elections and has not yet decided on its participation in the next elections.

Commenting on announcing a date to carry out the elections, the secretary general of the front Hamza Mansour said that setting a date "is considered a step into the right track after the parliament has been absent for two years, in contradictory to the constitution." However, he added "what is important is not to carry out the elections but the vast people's contribution to it. He considered that the statement made by the Jordanian prime minister Ali Abul Ragheb on the possibility of not being able to amend the law "as reflecting the interest of the government in the will of the Jordanians." About the front's participation in the elections, Mansour said "his party has not studied this matter yet." A new election law was adopted in July 2001, just one month after the Jordanian King desolved the parliament. The said law stated to increase the number of parliamentarians at the parliament from 80 to 104 and to reduce the age of persons eligible for voting from 19 to 18.

On February 10, this year that Jordanian King issued a decision stated to allocate 6 Parliamentary seats for women in order to enhance their role in the political life in the kingdom. This will increase number of parliamentary seats to 110.

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