JORDAN ISLAMISTS SEE PROPOSED CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS INADEQUATE

Jordan’s main opposition party, the Islamic Action Front (IAF), said on August 15 the recommended amendments to the constitution included “positive aspects”, but fell short of meeting the people’s aspirations. A royal committee that was set up three months ago by King Abdullah for the revision of the constitution submitted its recommendations to the monarch on August 14. The king described the proposed amendments as a “historical” achievement that put Jordan on the threshold of a new era of political reform.

The panel proposed, among other things, the setting up of a constitutional court, the supervision of general elections by an independent body, the trial of cabinet ministers by civil courts and strictly defining the need for the government to adopt temporary laws. The IAF, the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood movement, described the proposed amendments as “positive aspects”, but demanded further revisions of the constitution in order to ensure “a promising transition to the future and to surmount the crisis we live”.