SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Jordan's King Abdullah Dissolves Parliament
Action taken on eve of Muslim Brotherhood rally
Oct 04, 2012
King Abdullah dissolved Jordan's parliament on Thursday in an action said to pave the way for upcoming parliamentary elections.
Reuters reports that the announcement was made "on the eve of a rally organized by the main Islamist opposition, the Muslim Brotherhood, which is hoping to stage its largest demonstration on Friday since Arab Spring-inspired protests erupted last year."
Jordan was spared during the Arab Spring uprisings because of promised reforms--including the upcoming parliament election--but the Brotherhood and a coalition of opposition groups have been pressuring the monarch to expedite the process. According to the Globe and Mail, critics also charge that the reforms "do not go far enough in neutralizing distortions that ensure parliamentary strength for the supports of King Abdullah II or curtail his absolute powers."
This summer, the Brotherhood's political party, the Islamic Action Front (IAF), threatened to boycott the upcoming elections. The group demanded an overhaul of the parliamentary system and to curtail some of the king's control by having an elected prime minister rather than appointment by the king, as was previously the custom. Reuters explains that "a boycott by the country's only effective opposition, the IAF, ...threaten[s] to damage the legitimacy of any future parliament."
Until this point, protests in Jordan have been more peaceful than in other Arab States. The BBC's Arab affairs analyst Sebastian Usher explains that this was a credit to King Abdullah who has presented himself as a "unifying force, a constitutional monarch representing the will of his people." However, this may no longer by the case, or general impression.
"Worryingly for King Abdullah, the taboo on directly criticising the palace appears to have been breached. The king has dissolved parliaments and sacked prime ministers before in order to show that he is responsive to public dissatisfaction. But it is the wielding of that kind of power that the Islamists and democracy activists believe is preventing true reform."
The royal statement dissolving the parliament did not state when the elections would take place though Jordan's constitution stipulates that the cabinet must resign within a week of the parliament's dissolution.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
King Abdullah dissolved Jordan's parliament on Thursday in an action said to pave the way for upcoming parliamentary elections.
Reuters reports that the announcement was made "on the eve of a rally organized by the main Islamist opposition, the Muslim Brotherhood, which is hoping to stage its largest demonstration on Friday since Arab Spring-inspired protests erupted last year."
Jordan was spared during the Arab Spring uprisings because of promised reforms--including the upcoming parliament election--but the Brotherhood and a coalition of opposition groups have been pressuring the monarch to expedite the process. According to the Globe and Mail, critics also charge that the reforms "do not go far enough in neutralizing distortions that ensure parliamentary strength for the supports of King Abdullah II or curtail his absolute powers."
This summer, the Brotherhood's political party, the Islamic Action Front (IAF), threatened to boycott the upcoming elections. The group demanded an overhaul of the parliamentary system and to curtail some of the king's control by having an elected prime minister rather than appointment by the king, as was previously the custom. Reuters explains that "a boycott by the country's only effective opposition, the IAF, ...threaten[s] to damage the legitimacy of any future parliament."
Until this point, protests in Jordan have been more peaceful than in other Arab States. The BBC's Arab affairs analyst Sebastian Usher explains that this was a credit to King Abdullah who has presented himself as a "unifying force, a constitutional monarch representing the will of his people." However, this may no longer by the case, or general impression.
"Worryingly for King Abdullah, the taboo on directly criticising the palace appears to have been breached. The king has dissolved parliaments and sacked prime ministers before in order to show that he is responsive to public dissatisfaction. But it is the wielding of that kind of power that the Islamists and democracy activists believe is preventing true reform."
The royal statement dissolving the parliament did not state when the elections would take place though Jordan's constitution stipulates that the cabinet must resign within a week of the parliament's dissolution.
King Abdullah dissolved Jordan's parliament on Thursday in an action said to pave the way for upcoming parliamentary elections.
Reuters reports that the announcement was made "on the eve of a rally organized by the main Islamist opposition, the Muslim Brotherhood, which is hoping to stage its largest demonstration on Friday since Arab Spring-inspired protests erupted last year."
Jordan was spared during the Arab Spring uprisings because of promised reforms--including the upcoming parliament election--but the Brotherhood and a coalition of opposition groups have been pressuring the monarch to expedite the process. According to the Globe and Mail, critics also charge that the reforms "do not go far enough in neutralizing distortions that ensure parliamentary strength for the supports of King Abdullah II or curtail his absolute powers."
This summer, the Brotherhood's political party, the Islamic Action Front (IAF), threatened to boycott the upcoming elections. The group demanded an overhaul of the parliamentary system and to curtail some of the king's control by having an elected prime minister rather than appointment by the king, as was previously the custom. Reuters explains that "a boycott by the country's only effective opposition, the IAF, ...threaten[s] to damage the legitimacy of any future parliament."
Until this point, protests in Jordan have been more peaceful than in other Arab States. The BBC's Arab affairs analyst Sebastian Usher explains that this was a credit to King Abdullah who has presented himself as a "unifying force, a constitutional monarch representing the will of his people." However, this may no longer by the case, or general impression.
"Worryingly for King Abdullah, the taboo on directly criticising the palace appears to have been breached. The king has dissolved parliaments and sacked prime ministers before in order to show that he is responsive to public dissatisfaction. But it is the wielding of that kind of power that the Islamists and democracy activists believe is preventing true reform."
The royal statement dissolving the parliament did not state when the elections would take place though Jordan's constitution stipulates that the cabinet must resign within a week of the parliament's dissolution.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.