Projected political party rejected for being 'based on ethnic basis'

AMMAN — Members of the under-establishment Jordanian civil coalition party said their application to found the party was rejected because the majority has “dark skin”.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, members said they have received a letter from the Parties’ Affairs Committee, headed by the Ministry of Political and Parliamentary Affairs, rejecting their application in accordance with Article 5, Paragraph B of the Political Parties Law for the year 2015.

The paragraph stipulates that “no party is allowed to be formed on a religious, sectarian, ethnic or sub-demographic basis or on the basis of gender or origin”.

“The letter we have received from the committee did not deliberately state that the rejection is based on our colour,” Ali Jazi, a founding member of the projected party, told The Jordan Times.

However, “a leaked letter from the Ministry of Justice stated that the reason for the rejection is related to the colour of the founding members' skin”, he said. 

Jazi explained that there are 192 founding members from across the Kingdom, and only 60 per cent of them have dark skin.

Despite several attempts by The Jordan Times to contact Political Development Ministry officials, they were not available for comment.

Meanwhile, Amneh Zu’bi, a member of the Parties’ Affairs Committee, confirmed that the rejection came in accordance with Paragraph B of Article 5 of the law.

However, she stopped short of commenting on whether the rejection is directly related to skin colour.

Zu’bi noted that the founding members can resort to court if they are dissatisfied with the decision as per the law.

She also explained that this was not the only reason for rejecting the application, and that there are other documents they were asked to submit along with their application.

“They only submitted the documents on the last day when the committee discussed the application,” Zu’bi told The Jordan Times. 

Jazi said he and his colleagues will not resort to court for now. But, according to a well-informed source who spoke on condition of anonymity, the founding members have submitted a complaint to the National Centre for Human Rights (NCHR) against the committee.

Of the five members in the concerned committee, Issa Maraziq, who represents the NCHR, was the only member who refused to sign the decision.