Minister of Political and Parliamentary Affairs, Mousa Maaytah, and Minister of State for Legal Affairs, Wafaa Bani Mustafa, met with a number of representatives of international civil society institutions operating in Jordan.
During the meeting, Maaytah revealed that the government is developing an executive plan during the coming period to work on implementing the Royal Committee to Modernise the Political System’s recommendations related to women, youth, and local administration, in addition to draft legislation related to the electoral and political party laws and the constitutional amendments legally related to them, which the government has begun implementing.
He indicated that the plan will involve relevant ministries and institutions such as the Ministry of Political and Parliamentary Affairs, Youth, Culture, and Local Administration, in addition to the Office of the Minister of State for Media Affairs, and the Ministerial Committee for Women Empowerment.
He added that the government will seek to implement the committee’s recommendations in cooperation and partnership with civil society and relevant institutions, in a way that contributes to enhancing women’s and youth participation in political life and encouraging partisan programmatic work.
Minister Wafaa Bani Mustafa, in turn, said that the government is working on the Royal committee’s outcomes according to two tracks. The first is related to the legislative aspect, which includes the two draft laws on political parties and elections and the constitutional amendments related to them, which were referred by the government to the Legislation and Opinion Bureau before sending them to the Lower House of Parliament to proceed with their approval procedures and stages.
Bani Mustafa added that the second track includes the executive aspect regarding the committee’s recommendations on women and youth empowerment, and the development of the local administration legislation system.
She pointed out that the key challenge for the success of the committee’s outcomes and recommendations lies in the implementation mechanism and society’s response to change, by increasing the turnout of women and youth to participate in elections, and urging them to join parties.
A number of representatives of international civil society institutions spoke during the meeting about the importance of achieving the Royal Committee to Modernise the Political System’s outcomes on the ground, the government’s plans to implement them, the priorities of administrative, economic and political reform in the next stage, and the political parties’ handling of updates to the political system.
Source: Jordan News Agency