Al-Jazeera reports today that the long-simmering crisis in Jordan has come to a head, with the "movement to withold confidence" from Adnan Badran now claiming a Parliamentary majority: 66 out of 110 representatives declaring an intent to deny confidence, with the traditional opposition joining with the ethnic Jordanian nationalists who make up the "Group of 45". Read all about it here, if you - like the American government - haven't been paying attention to Jordan lately.
This puts the King in a difficult position: force Badran through, perhaps on the technicality that the Parliament is not in ordinary session, and be left with a functionally illegitimate government; dissolve the Parliament and call new elections; or back down on Basem Awadallah and some of the other controversial figures, reshuffle the cabinet, and face one of the most stunning political defeats by a Hashemite King in decades. This is the first time since Taher Masri's government (back in 1991) that Jordan has seen anything like this.
If I can get my stuff together in time, you should be able to read an article about this by yours truly very soon - which means that I can't spend much more time blogging it right now!
Well, well. I thought the slimey bastid Awadallah was going to slip through. Odd, however. He must have pissed off more people than I thought with his little Aqaba games.
Posted by: collounsbury | May 05, 2005 at 09:32 AM
AA, can I bleg of you a post outlining, roughly, what kinds of big-bucket things would have to happen in order for Jordan to transition from an absolute-esque to a constitutional monarchy? Maybe that would help guide all of your readers who don't follow Jordanian politics so closely.
Posted by: praktike | May 05, 2005 at 11:32 AM
The King would have to have a major change of heart, the tensions between Palestinians and the Bedou Jordanians would have to magically disappear.
Posted by: collounsbury | May 05, 2005 at 03:59 PM