Under an amendment to article 75 of the Jordanian constitution which went into effect on Oct. 1, no Jordanian can become minister or be a member in any of the two houses of Parliament or be a ranking official if he or she holds dual nationality.
Among those losing their portfolios at the Cabinet were Minister of Water and Irrigation Mohammad Najjar and Minister of Culture Jeryes Samawi. Two members of the lower house of Parliament and five members of the upper house, the senate, have also lost their posts over their possession of dual nationality.
Some of them said officials have opted to renounce their non-Jordanian nationalities at the concerned embassies in Amman.
But they were forced to quit from their posts by the Higher Council for the Interpretation of the Constitution (HCIC) which ruled on Tuesday that all ministers, senators and deputies with dual nationalities “should leave their posts immediately” under the constitution even if they had applied to abandon their non-Jordanian nationalities.
