Jordan's parties ask king's help against cabinet, parliament

Mar 19, 2007, 20:59 GMT

Amman - Thirty-one Jordanian opposition and pro-government political parties on Monday urged the intervention of King Abdullah II to end what they called a 'state of siege' imposed on them in tandem by the government and the lower house of parliament.

They accused the cabinet and the House of Representatives of teaming up 'to encroach on the country's national institutions including press, trade unions and political parties, as well as constitutional freedoms.'

'We appeal to your majesty to step in to salvage us out of this state of siege and ensure the prevalence of the constitution which provides for separation of powers, political pluralism and safeguarding rights of citizens,' the parties said in message to the king that was read out at a press conference.

Leaders of the parties said they would 'boycott' a dialogue that was recently started by Prime Minister Marouf Bakhit for the amendment of the election law.

They pledged to stage a sit-in before the lower house on Wednesday to protest the chamber's endorsement last week of a new political parties' law that raises the minimum number of members of any political party in the country to 500 in order to be licensed by the government.

'We are surprised that (the members of) the house's legal committee have changed their minds and endorsed the draft law text as proposed by the government,' the signatories said in their complaint to the king.

In a related development, the country's largest political party, the Islamic Action Front (IAF), said Monday that it had decided to boycott the rest of the sessions of the lower house, the present term of which ends in June.

King Abdullah said earlier that general and municipal elections would be held later this year, but no date has been set so far for the polling process.