US embassy cable - 03AMMAN4764

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 AMMAN 004764 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/30/2013 
TAGS: PGOV, PHUM, ECON, SOCI, JO 
SUBJECT: PARLIAMENT OPENS, ERRANT MP'S SWEAR PROPER OATH; 
GOJ BEGINS TO FEEL PARLIAMENTARY PRESSURE 
 
REF: A. AMMAN 4408 
 
     B. AMMAN 4533 
     C. AMMAN 4577 
     D. AMMAN 4246 
 
Classified By: PolCouns Doug Silliman for reasons 1.5 (B)(D) 
 
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SUMMARY 
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1.  (C)  The just-begun special session of the Parliament 
will examine Parliamentary bylaws, consider a vote of 
confidence in the new cabinet, begin to examine more than 200 
temporary laws promulgated by the government, and adjudicate 
complaints of irregularities in the June polls.   The Lower 
House has formed 14 committees -- and also required 30 MPs 
who added words to their oath of office to retake the correct 
constitutional oath.  The new Speaker, Secretary General, and 
some MPs with whom we have spoken believe the membership of 
the new Parliament is generally younger and better educated 
than in the past, and hope this is a good sign for democracy 
in Jordan.  One dissenting MP is reserving judgment, and is 
already complaining that many of his colleagues seem more 
concerned with their own personal perks than the common good. 
 Government ministers expect pressure from new MPs for 
greater spending and more favors, and seem to view the new 
Parliament with a mix of trepidation and paternalism.  END 
SUMMARY. 
 
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PARLIAMENTARY AGENDA - BYLAWS, VOTE OF CONFIDENCE... 
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2.  (C)  The newly elected Parliament has begun thrice-weekly 
meetings in a special summer session which is scheduled to 
run through the end of September.  DCM and PolCouns paid a 
courtesy call July 21 on the newly elected speaker, Saad 
Hayel Srour (ref a).  Srour said his priorities for the 
special session would include changing the internal rules of 
Parliament to make its work more efficient, dealing with a 
vote of confidence in the new government, and examining the 
more than 200 "temporary laws" the government had promulgated 
in the absence of Parliament.  On parliamentary by-laws, 
Srour said he wanted to increase the size of committees to 
reflect the new, larger house, and reform debate on the floor 
of the house so that not all MPs have the right to speak on 
all issues.  Lower House Secretary General, Dr. Mohammad 
Masalha, told PolCouns July 29 that he expects the MPs to 
vote for an increase of committee size from 11 to 13 or 15. 
 
3.  (C)  Masalha said that PM Ali Abul Ragheb would come to 
the Parliament on August 6 and formally present his 
reshuffled government (refs b and c) for a vote of 
confidence.  Srour commented that he expected at least 3-4 
days of debate on the new government, debate that would 
likely include a large number of personal attacks on 
ministers.  In the end, he said, the government could be 
assured of getting at least 70 of the 110 votes.  He 
commented that, in his discussions with Abul Ragheb, the PM 
seemed more confident and energetic than he had earlier in 
the year. 
 
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...AND MORE THAN 200 TEMPORARY LAWS 
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4.  (C)  Srour said the real meat of the special session 
would be examining the more than 200 temporary laws 
promulgated by the government in the absence of Parliament. 
Masalha said the government had formally sent 211 temporary 
laws to the Parliament for review, and that the Parliament 
would begin to distribute these laws to committees on July 
30.  According to current plans, Masalha said, the Speaker 
hopes to conduct most of the review of these laws in the 
appropriate committees, thereby reducing the time spent on 
debate in the full Parliament.  He expected that only a 
fraction of these laws would actually come to a vote during 
this special session, and that the task would extend well 
into the regular session which will begin in the Fall.  DCM 
emphasized to the Speaker the importance to Jordan of 
unamended passage of many of the temporary laws, especially 
those tied to Jordan's WTO membership, the U.S.-Jordan FTA, 
and general economic reform. 
 
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...AND DON'T FORGET ELECTORAL COMPLAINTS 
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5.  (C)  Masalha said that seven committees had been formed 
to investigate the 54 complaints of irregularities in the 
June 17 voting (ref d).  He said that no member would be 
permitted to sit on a committee that would hear a complaint 
that could affect the results of his/her election.  The MPs 
had also finalized on July 28 membership in the fourteen 
standing committees of the Lower House.  The committees will 
meet in the next week and select Chairpersons, Masalha said. 
 
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AN OATH RETAKEN - CORRECTLY THIS TIME 
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6.  (C)  Srour told DCM that MPs from the Islamic Action 
Front had added several words to the end of their original 
oaths of office, adding an allegiance to God, the Quran, and 
the prophet Mohammad (ref a).  "This was a message for their 
street," Srour declared.  Several other MPs had subsequently 
added different words to their oaths supporting Jordanian 
democracy or the "Jordan First" campaign.  Srour blamed the 
problem on the fact that, by tradition, the oldest MP chairs 
the opening session of Parliament until the election of the 
Speaker.  Srour commented that Abdul Hafeez al-Heet, the 
oldest member in the current Parliament, had no previous 
Parliamentary experience, and the IAF had taken advantage of 
his age.  "He was not up to the challenge."  He said he told 
the IAF and other errant MPs that they must return to the 
constitutional basis for working in the Parliament. 
 
7.  (C)  Masalha confirmed that all 30 members who had added 
words to their oaths -- including those from the IAF -- had 
retaken the proper constitutional oath during the session on 
July 28.  The members had been permitted to make short 
remarks prefacing their oaths, Masalha remarked, although few 
actually did.  A constitutional committee had decided that 
the MPs must retake the oath, but also decided that the 
actions of the house up to the second oath taking -- 
including election of a speaker and selection of committees 
-- were valid. 
 
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YOUNGER, BETTER EDUCATED PARLIAMENT 
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8.  (C)  Srour described the new MPs as generally younger and 
better educated than past Parliaments -- he counted 49 
engineers, 18 medical doctors, and numerous Ph.D. holders 
(see ref d).  He commented that tribal areas, especially the 
Central Badia (which elected three doctors) had chosen 
educated MPs who in many cases had defeated their tribal 
sheikhs.  In selecting more educated and professional MPs, 
Srour argued, voters did not listen to fiery speeches or 
their tribal sheikhs, but rather "used their minds" to select 
their representatives. 
 
9.  (C)  Masalha and MP Mohammad Arsalan, winner of the 
Chechen seat from Zarqa, agreed substantially with this 
assessment.  Arsalan told PolCouns that he has been impressed 
with the energy and seriousness of his new colleagues. 
Arsalan, who is a past Secretary General of the Zarqa Chamber 
of Commerce and will sit on the Economic and Finance 
Committee, said that he has already found 8 MPs who plan to 
found with him a "reformist" bloc.  He said that "progressive 
thinking" MPs had secured a majority of the seats on the 
Economic and Finance Committee, and he hoped this would 
ensure passage of the temporary laws associated with WTO 
accession, the U.S.-Jordan FTA, and the King's economic 
liberalization program without significant amendment. 
 
10.  (C)  Another new MP, Mohammad Suleiman al-Shawabkeh from 
Madaba, held a less optimistic view of the new Parliament. 
He told PolCouns that he had already found that many MPs are 
more concerned with securing their own personal perks of 
office than with properly organizing their work or cementing 
voting blocs.  Shawabkeh fears that clientitis and "wasta" 
could quickly overwhelm most members, who are likely to 
rubber stamp the government's temporary laws rather than take 
the time to understand and evaluate them.  Senator Marwan 
Kasim told the DCM that he did not expect the quality of MPs 
to improve, but that the Parliament must, at a minimum, 
regularly question PM Abul Ragheb and his ministers to keep 
them honest.  (Note.  SecGen Masalha confirmed that every 
fourth session is reserved for questions for the government 
-- about once every ten days.  End note.) 
 
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GOVERNMENT BRACES FOR MP'S REQUESTS 
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11.  (C)  Conversations with government ministers indicate 
that several view the new Parliament with a mix of 
trepidation and paternalism.  Finance Minister Michel Marto 
told the DCM that he would likely come under pressure from 
new MPs "to spend money."  He noted, however, that he had 
"dealt with Parliaments before" and would just have to 
educate MPs on the fiscal realities of Jordan.  Similarly, 
Planning Minister Bassam Awadallah (whose courtesy call from 
the DCM was delayed when an MP barged into his office with a 
constituent request) described the new MPs as "not that 
serious" and only looking for favors.  He, too, expects 
pressure from the Parliament for project and spending 
increases. 
 
12.  (C)  Ministers expect pressures in other areas as well. 
New Information Minister Nabil Sharif told the Ambassador and 
DCM July 30 that several MPs had complained that Jordan 
Television had not carried their speeches in the opening 
session of the Parliament.  "We can't carry fifty speeches 
every day," Sharif complained.  He also was troubled by signs 
of an anti-reform, anti-IMF mood in some quarters of 
Parliament.  New Deputy PM and Minister for Economic Affairs 
Mohammad Halaiqa said that the Parliament had approved 
government budgets from 2001 and 2002 by voice vote July 30, 
but had postponed a vote on privatization at the request of 
IAF deputies.  The IAF, he explained, is not opposed to 
privatization, but wants to know where the proceeds of 
privatization have gone.  "We are in for a rough ride," 
Halaiqa commented.  But in the end, he was confident that the 
government would pass the temporary laws related to economic 
restructuring and modernization. 
 
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COMMENT 
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13.  (C)  One opinion expressed by all MPs with whom we spoke 
-- and many political observers and pundits as well -- is 
that the absence of Parliament over the past two and a half 
years created a large hole in Jordanian political discourse, 
and it is good to have Parliament back in session.  What 
remains to be seen is whether the "younger, better educated" 
but still tribal-dominated Parliament will perform better 
then its predecessors, and how the government will cope with 
the exercise of (even just a little) Parliamentary authority. 
 
 
GNEHM