Jordan: Islamists forced to retake constitutional oath at the parliament

Islamic parliamentarians at the Jordanian parliament were obliged yesterday to retake their constitutional oath, after an arbitrary judicial council approved a decision that the oath they took upon the convening the first session of the parliament and related their loyalty to the King and the homeland by "obedience to the God and his prophet" was not constitutional.

Some 30 Islamic parliamentarians have reread the constitutional oath in a parliament session yesterday after the Higher Council in the country, in charge of explaining the rules of the constitution, decided to read the taking oath literally and in full.

The first session of the meetings of the Jordanian parliament witnessed rows between parliamentarians of Islamic inclinations and the liberals after the parliamentarians of Islamic inclinations, of the Ikhwan al-Muslimin (Muslim brothers) blocs constituting 17 parliamentarians, and others were persistent to add the phrase "obedience to God and his messenger" while reading the text of the oath in which the parliamentarian vows "to be faithful to the King and to the homeland."

On the other hand, the Islamic Labor Front, one of the Jordanian opposition parties, accused the government of falsifying the results of the municipal elections which were held last Saturday and Sunday, considering that these elections "lack legitimacy." The front nominated 11 activists in the elections of the capital's municipality, but only four of the candidates won and abstained from nomination in other areas.