AMMAN, 21 October 2003 — Jordanian Prime Minister Ali Abu Ragheb has tendered his resignation and King Abdallah is expected to appoint a successor in the next few days, senior politicians said yesterday.
They told Reuters the monarch was expected to accept Abu Ragheb’s formal resignation and appoint a successor to continue the kingdom’s ongoing IMF-guided free market reforms and traditional staunch support for US policies in the region.
“Abu Ragheb has tendered his resignation to His Majesty who is expected to accept it soon ... as early as Thursday possibly,” said one senior politician who asked not to be named. He gave no reasons for Ragheb’s decision.
The leading candidate was Faisal Al-Fayez, currently Royal Court minister and a member of a prominent East Bank tribe with historically close links to the Hashemite royal family.
Abu Ragheb, a business-friendly politician, formed his government in June 2000 with a mandate to boost the economy and attract foreign investments. The Abu Ragheb administration was accused by its liberal, Islamist and conservative opponents alike of spawning corruption and graft in government ministries.
Many politicians have also questioned Abu Ragheb’s known business ties with influential Iraqi businessmen and officials in former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s government. They also accused the government of enforcing tough curbs on public freedoms, which the authorities justified on security grounds.
