US embassy cable - 03AMMAN5245

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 AMMAN 005245 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/19/2013 
TAGS: PGOV, PHUM, KISL, JO 
SUBJECT: JORDANIAN PARLIAMENT GIVES ABUL RAGHEB'S 
GOVERNMENT VOTE OF CONFIDENCE, AFTER A HEATED DEBATE 
 
 
Classified By: PolCouns Doug Silliman, per Reasons 1.5 (b) and (d). 
 
------- 
Summary 
------- 
 
1.  (U)  On August 14, Jordanian Members of Parliament (MPs) 
overwhelmingly approved the new government of Prime Minister 
Ali Abul Ragheb.  Despite this support, many MPs criticized 
the prime minister's cabinet and agenda during the five days 
of debate that preceded the vote.  In the end, Abul Ragheb 
fired back against his opponents, primarily members of the 
Islamic Action Front (IAF), and, as expected, swept the vote 
with a significant margin.  The intensity of the debate was a 
warning shot to the government and elite that it has not 
succeeded in establishing broad, popular support for 
reformist policy.  End Summary. 
 
---------------------- 
Victory for Government 
---------------------- 
 
2.  (U)  Abul Ragheb's third government won an overwhelming 
77.7 percent vote of confidence on August 14.  84 of 108 
voting deputies (one lawmaker was absent and the House 
speaker, per House rules, did not vote) voted in support of 
the 28-member Cabinet.  All 17 IAF deputies voted against the 
government and were thus the bulwarks of opposition.  Of the 
23 "nays," half were deputies representing districts in the 
capital, including those of the IAF.  The Democratic Alliance 
bloc's 12 deputies, headed by former Health Minister and 
Amman Mayor Mamdouh Abbadi, and the 24-member National Action 
Front, headed by former Speaker Abdul Hadi Majali, all gave 
their vote of confidence.  Five of the six women elected to 
Parliament under the new female quota system voted against 
the government. 
 
--------------- 
Quotable Quotes 
--------------- 
 
3.  (C)  Speeches for and against the government lasted five 
days, with MPs either rehashing their bloc's platform or, in 
the case of Islamic Action Front (IAF) members, intensifying 
their criticism of government policy.  Many deputies accused 
the premier's policy statement of being a rehash of previous 
policies, with nothing new or solid.  The majority of 
deputies, in what became a series of extended speeches, 
continued demands from days previous for services in their 
various constituencies.  Abul Ragheb, in fact, sarcastically 
complained to A/S Burns August 13 that he would have to sit 
through 109 speeches, all of which would go overtime.  We 
have heard others criticize the Speaker's tolerance of MPs' 
breaking of parliamentary rules.  They attribute his attitude 
to the fact he will have to be re-elected as Speaker in 
November if he chooses to keep it. 
 
4.  (C)  Of the substance addressed by MPs, desire for 
political and economic reform topped the list.  Many members 
called for greater press autonomy to allow differentiation 
between government mouthpiece media outlets and independent 
voices allowed to express opposition to national policies. 
In terms of regional policy, the Palestinian issue topped 
many opposition MPs' concerns.  Many, particularly IAF, MPs 
used their time at the podium to denounce the Quartet roadmap 
and called on the government to support both Palestinian and 
Iraqi resistance groups.  Abul Ragheb told A/S Burns August 
13 that the IAF only asked a few things of the government: 
to end the occupation of Palestine, get the Americans out of 
Iraq, unite the Arab world, and create a unified Muslim 
"umma" (or nation).  The prime minister explained to A/S 
Burns that the IAF MPs individually are "nice and 
intelligent"; but, once they reached the podium, their 
collective condemnation of the government was propaganda for 
their supporters. 
 
--------------------- 
For the Opposition... 
--------------------- 
 
5.  (U)  Several MPs excoriated the government of PM Abul 
Ragheb for lacking a real program.  Abdul Munem Abu Zant, a 
non-IAF Islamist deputy, was one of the strongest voices of 
opposition.  He began his speech by blasting the one-person, 
one vote Elections Law, which he said provoked sectarianism 
and tribalism, and asked about the national unity Abul Ragheb 
has said his government supports.  In fact, challenged Abu 
Zant, Jordanians "have not seen a minister from a camp or a 
poor family."  Another MP in opposition exclaimed that 
"authority and business don't mix, and if they do, this would 
turn a country into a private company...  That is why in our 
case economic growth rate figures have only been felt by 
those in power not by regular folk."  The MP also accused the 
current executive authority of dictatorship and snobbery 
"prompting citizens to call it a Christian Dior government." 
Another referred to government appointments in years past, 
calling them examples of "nepotism and favoritism" in many 
cases.  "I found the shortest way to (success) is to be a 
relative or friend of an official," he said, adding that Abul 
Ragheb's policy statement was neither cohesive nor practical. 
 Finally, an IAF MP insisted that "Islam is the solution to 
problems the country is currently facing and to what will 
come in future disasters - which will be the result of not 
following God's doctrines." 
 
--------------------- 
...and the Government 
--------------------- 
 
6.  (U)  Among those more supportive of government policy was 
Raji Haddad, a conservative former soldier in the Army, he 
went so far as to call for the reopening of political jails 
"for those who insult our country on satellite TV."  He also 
urged the government to give greater authority to governors 
so that they could "punish offenders," asking security forces 
to "whip" lawbreakers even harder.  More moderate in their 
support of the government were a host of other MPs, many of 
whom chose to focus on the question of national unity.  Said 
one deputy, "some economic policy makers in the government 
don't know one village outside of the capital.  How will they 
ever make sound economic decisions when they're completely 
ignorant of societal needs?"  Another pro-government figure, 
Mahmoud Kharabsheh, linked his vote of confidence to the 
manner in which the government has been handling the Iraqi 
and Palestinian issues.  He was critical of those MPs with 
"private agendas" that were failing to take into account 
national interests.  Still others criticized the "individual 
declarations by fellow MPs that, regretfully, addressed some 
very sensitive issues in a provocative manner over these last 
few days. 
 
--------------- 
PM Strikes Back 
--------------- 
 
7.  (U)  After sitting and listening to parliamentarians slam 
his government's policies for five consecutive days, Abul 
Ragheb struck back before the confidence vote was to take 
place on August 14, giving a 20-minute speech in which he 
rebuffed many claims accusing him of fronting a rehash of his 
previous governments.  The prime minister's address had 
strong words for the IAF:  "the morals of Islam have been 
attacked in the name of Islam and from those that claim they 
work for Islam.  Does Islam condone lying and falsifying 
facts?"  This statement was a reference to what he called 
"misquotes" from a private meeting with IAF members during a 
series of meetings with different House blocs before the vote. 
 
8.  (U)  The PM's speech was laden with promises to implement 
political and economic reforms, giving special reference to 
long awaited changes in the Political Parties Law.  Stressing 
the importance of parties working within the confines of the 
Constitution, Abul Ragheb assured deputies that his 
government would put forth a new law to boost party 
participation in political life.  But the premier, a former 
deputy himself, blamed parties for their own failure. 
 
------- 
Comment 
------- 
 
9.  (C)  While there was never any question that Abul Ragheb 
would receive a vote of confidence given Parliament's 
composition (i.e., a small but vocal opposition v. a sizable 
body of Palace loyalists), it was nonetheless interesting to 
watch the maneuvering of MPs on the floor.  Deputies' 
speeches carried no real surprises, raising individual or 
local concerns without real debate on any major policy.  As 
for the IAF, in marked contrast to its relatively moderate 
joint statement on August 10, IAF deputies' individual 
declarations the following day were quite critical of the 
government.  In the end, their votes of no confidence were of 
no surprise and had no practical impact. 
 
10.  (C)  PolOff, Pol Intern, and Pol FSN attended one of the 
sessions and noted a greater number of gallery observers than 
MPs, including the British Ambassador, who caused both 
bafflement and uneasy suspicion by sitting through several 
day-long sessions.  The mood in the House was light, despite 
impassioned cries from the podium.  MPs casually chatted with 
one another and read newspapers as their colleagues took 
control of the floor for approximately 20 minutes each, 
reading prepared statements that held the interest of few 
other members. 
 
11.  (C)  The hardest part for Abul Ragheb was not surviving 
the vote but having to sit through five days of verbal abuse 
) much of which came in the form of derisive personal 
attacks instead of policy concerns.  (He was briefly 
hospitalized for exhaustion, amidst the week.)  The intensity 
of the debate served as a reminder that the King and 
government have not yet cemented public support for the 
reform path they have followed for the past four years. 
Poverty and unemployment remain the daily reality of the vast 
majority of Jordanians, feeding political discontent and 
incivility.  The next real test will be this Fall's budget 
debate, where the IMF and US-supported imperative of fiscal 
restraint will come up hard against deputies' calls for 
greater spending on social and development programs. 
HALE