(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) His Majesty King Abdullah on Wednesday called for expediting the completion of the elections law, stressing the need for all to recognise the importance of the time factor at this stage, which requires immediate work to meet citizens' expectations.
Meanwhile, His Majesty issued two Royal Decrees endorsing key reform-related pieces of legislation, the political parties and the constitutional court. The decrees came on the same day the House accepted changes to the political parties law made by senators.
In a related development, the government said that an extraordinary session might be held to complete deliberations over the draft elections law.
During a meeting with the speaker and members of the Lower House at the Royal Court, King Abdullah called on the House to carry out its duties to serve national interest, which he said is above everything, and improve the comprehensive reform process.
The Monarch was acquainted with measures taken by Parliament to complete laws governing political life, particularly the elections law, to arrive at integral parliamentary elections based on transparency and objectivity before the end of this year, according to a Royal Court statement.
In addition to the parties and constitutional court laws, the House has previously endorsed the law governing the Independent Elections Commission, which has already embarked on its mission.
In an interview with Jordan Television following Wednesday's meeting, Lower House Speaker Abdul Karim Dughmi said the King has expressed his satisfaction over Parliament's performance, endorsement of reform laws and observations over the political, economic and social situation in the country.
"We have finished work on reform laws, except for the elections law, which requires more time and deliberations because there is no consensus so far on a certain formula for the law," Dughmi said, adding that the King wants an elections law that satisfies the vast majority of the people and ensures maximum public participation in political life.
"The parliament will do whatever it can to find a formula for the law that would enjoy the greatest consensus and least disagreement," he said, as quoted by the Jordan News Agency, Petra.
The House on Wednesday endorsed the Senate's amendments to the 2012 political parties law, raising the minimum number of founding members of a political party to 500 instead of 250 as endorsed previously by deputies.
In an afternoon session, the Upper House endorsed the draft political parties law.
With the enactment of the draft political parties law on Wednesday and before that the draft constitutional court law and the Independent Elections Commission Law, the draft elections law that is being deliberated now by the Legal Committee is the last reform-related piece of legislation awaiting MPs' endorsement.
On May 21, the Senate returned the draft political parties law to the Lower House after rejecting some of the deputies' amendments to the 37-article bill.
At the time, senators rejected deputies' amendments to Article 5 of the draft law, insisting that the minimum number of founding members required to form a political party be raised to 500 instead of 250, the figure proposed by the former government and later approved by the Lower House.
During Wednesday's Lower House session, a majority of MPs voted in favour of the Senate's amendments to the said article despite the opposition of some MPs who argued that raising the minimum number of founding members of political parties to 500 is a "hindrance" to improving the Kingdom's political life.
Zarqa Deputy Bassam Haddadeen described senators' changes to the article as a "restraint to public freedoms and a coup against reform and democracy".
Noting that the number of members is not an issue when it comes to political parties as what matter most is the "ideology and programme", Balqa MP Mustafa Shneikat said the Senate's amendments would "hamper partisan life in Jordan".
However, other MPs, including Mifleh Ruheimi (Jerash, 1st District) and Khalil Attiyeh (Amman, 1st District), commended the Senate's move.
"The Senate's proposal is relevant, taking into consideration the fact that the country is moving towards parliamentary governments," Ruheimi said.
After a majority of deputies approved senators' amendments to Article 5, Haddadeen and Irbid MP Jamil Nimri walked out of the session in protest against the results of the vote.
"You always present yourselves as advocates of democracy and yet you did not respect the results of the vote," shouted Deputy Yihya Saud (Amman, 2nd District) at the deputies who left the hall.
Also on Wednesday, a majority of MPs voted in favour of the Senate's amendments to Article 8 of the legislation under which the Political Party Affairs Committee, which will decide on applications to form political parties, will be headed by the interior minister, with the membership of the president of the Legislative and Opinion Bureau and secretary general of the Ministry of Justice in addition to the National Centre for Human Rights commissioner general and a representative from the private sector named by the prime minister.
Deputies also approved a provision stipulating that contests filed by political party founders against the committee's decisions be looked into by Amman Court of Appeal under the Senate's amendments to Article 14 of the bill.
During a meeting with journalists, Minister of State for Media Affairs and Communications and Government Spokesperson Samih Maaytah said as there are still several pieces of legislation that need to be endorsed, deputies may have a second extraordinary session to complete them.
The current second ordinary session ends on June 26.
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