The Lower House Monday referred to its Legal Committee the outputs of the Royal Committee to Modernize the Political System, including amendments to the Jordanian constitution and the political parties and election laws, giving them urgency status.
Ninety-five lawmakers spoke in the initial reading of the three drafts, before the MPs voted by majority to refer them to the Legal Committee during a session this morning chaired by Speaker Abdul Karim Doghmi and attended by Prime Minister Bisher Khasawneh and cabinet members.
The Prime Minister told the MPs that the constitutional amendment referred by the government to the legislature, which includes the formation of a national security and foreign policy council, is based on Article 45 of the constitution, which stipulates that the constitution or law allows mandating any other body some of the cabinet’s powers in the management of the state’s internal and external affairs.
The aim of the amendment, he explained, is to find a constitutional basis to protect society and sovereign institutions from “partisan bickering”, pointing out that the government adhered to the royal directive to refer these drafts without change to the House to “carry out the constitutional requirement.”
Under the constitutional amendment, a National Security and Foreign Policy Council, headed by the King, is to be set up to handle all issues related to the Kingdom’s defence, national security and foreign policy under an order to be issued in that respect.
The council comprises the Prime Minister, the Ministers of Defence, Foreign Affairs and Interior, the Army Commander, and the Director of Intelligence, in addition to two members appointed by the King.
Source: Jordan News Agency