AMMAN (JT) –– A Royal Decree was issued on Monday to dissolve the Lower House as of Tuesday, November 24.
Meanwhile, another decree ordered that legislative elections be held in accordance with the existing Elections Law. No date was set for the early vote.
Following is the full text of the decree:
“We, Abdullah II Ben Al Hussein, King of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, in line with Paragraph 3 of Article 34 of the Constitution, order the following: the Lower House shall be dissolved as of Tuesday, November 24, 2009.”
The second Royal Decree was issued to hold early parliamentary elections according to the provisions of the concerned law.
According to Article 73 of the Constitution, if the Lower House is dissolved, a general election will be held, and the new chamber has to convene in an extraordinary session no later than four months from the date of dissolution.
The same article stipulates that if no elections have taken place by the end of the four months, the dissolved House will assume its full constitutional powers and assemble as if its dissolution had not taken place.
The 15th Lower House was elected on November 20, 2007 and approved some 132 laws in four sessions - two ordinary and two extraordinary sessions.
In the first ordinary session, deputies approved 52 laws, and 42 in the second.
In their first extraordinary session they approved 23 laws.
However, in the last extraordinary session, lawmakers approved only 13 laws out of 29 listed on their agenda, which included laws of interest to the public.
The extraordinary session was adjourned while deputies were still discussing the income tax draft law, having only finished 11 articles of the 70-article law.
The government also withdrew the energy draft law and the income tax draft law to amend them in accordance with developments in these two sectors.
After the session was adjourned, the government withdrew two laws and issued them as temporary laws, including the social security and higher education laws.
During the same session, lawmakers also posed 49 questions to the government, and submitted two law proposals and 15 memoranda to the House speakership.
