AMMAN, 26 October 2003 — The new Jordanian government formed yesterday by Faisal Al-Fayez has pledged to fight poverty and unemployment and build political development in a country where political parties remain marginalized.
The new Cabinet lineup, trimmed down to 21 members compared to 29 in the outgoing administration of Ali Abu Ragheb, also includes three women ministers, the largest number in the country’s history.
The ministers were to be sworn in later in the day before King Abdallah but they already began their work informally on Friday with a retreat in the southern resort of Aqaba during which they presented their action plan.
The king attended part of the meeting, which one senior official described as a “test of harmony” that kicked off with the presentation of a poll showing that “for 70 percent of the Jordanian people poverty and unemployment” must be at the top of the government’s priorities.
According to independent estimates, unemployment affects 27 percent of Jordan’s 1.19 million labor force. Two key topics — social and economic development as well as political development — took up most of Friday’s discussions.
“Regional political issues interest less than 20 percent of the (five million strong) population, who are mainly seeking ways to improve daily living conditions,” the official told AFP.
The new government will also strive to develop the political process in Jordan and has created, for the first time, a ministry of political development that will be headed by Mohamad Daudiyeh, a former journalist and ambassador to Morocco.
“This ministry will be considered as the most important one within the new government,” the official said. “It will be tasked with drafting laws that will enable the political development of the country with the long-term goal of setting up three key political parties - center, right and left - in line with the king’s vision,” he said.
Jordan is home to around 25 political parties but only the main opposition Islamic Action Front enjoys widespread credibility in the kingdom because of a clear political program and a membership estimated at 5,000 people. The other parties have a total membership of around 9,000.
The new government will also seek to replace Jordan’s controversial electoral law with a “more modern legislation acceptable to most Jordanians,” the official said.
Jordan held its last legislative election on June 17, with voting based on individual seats rather than party lists - despite opposition from the Islamists who said it curtailed their representation in Parliament.
For the first time in Jordan’s history, three women are joining the ministerial team. Past governments have included only one woman. Asma Khodr, a lawyer and leading human rights activist, has been chosen as the official spokeswoman of the new government with ministerial rank.
Alia Buran, a former ambassador to Belgium, will take over the Ministry of Tourism as well as the Environment Ministry which had been created only three months earlier. The third woman, Amal Farhan, a university professor, will head the Ministry of Municipalities.
The Ministry of Information will be scrapped from the new government which is expected to issue a temporary law as early as today to fill the void until the departments it once controlled, such as the radio and television authority and the national news agency Petra, become fully autonomous, the official said. The new Prime Minister, Fayez, 51, was a former royal court chief who belongs to one of Jordan’s largest tribes, the Bani Sakher.
