Jordan is a constitutional monarchy based on a written Constitution, adopted in 1952. Executive authority is vested in the King according to hereditary rights. Until 2013, the King directly appointed the Prime Minister, who then appointed the Cabinet in consultation with the Monarch.[1] However, in the light of recent opposition protests the King relinquished this right and the Prime Minister is now appointed by the King after consultation with the Parliament, also called the National Assembly.[2] The Cabinet works under the Prime Minister and is accountable to the House of Representatives – one of the two Chambers of the National Assembly – on matters of general policy. The Cabinet can be forced to resign by a two-thirds vote of "no confidence" issued by the House of Representatives.[3]
Executive authority is vested in the King and the Council of Ministers. The King signs and executes all laws. His veto power may only be overridden by a two-thirds vote of both houses of the National Assembly. He can appoint and dismiss all judges by decree, approves amendments to the Constitution, declares war, and instructs the armed forces. Cabinet decisions, court judgments, and the national currency are issued in his name.[4]
The 2013 parliamentary elections were governed by a newly adopted legal framework which includes the Constitution of 1952 as amended in 2011; the Election Law for the Lower House of the Parliament No. 25 of 2012; the Independent Election Commission Law No. 11 of 2012; the Political Party Law No. 16 of 2012; the Nationality Law No. 6 of 1954 (last amended in 1987); the Constitutional CourtLaw No. 15 of 2012; Penal Code 1960; and 14 Executive Instructions issued by the Independent Election Commission (IEC).[5] In 2015, electoral reforms were announced and aimed to end the one-man one-vote system in the interests of proportional representation. The 2015 reforms ensured the 2016 general election more closely resembled the 1989 general election. There are 23 electoral districts.
Legislative power rests with the bicameral National Assembly. The membership of the National Assembly varies; currently, it is composed of 210 seats. The elected House of Representatives has 150 seats and the Senate is currently composed of 60 members appointed by the monarch. According to the constitution, the number of seats in the Senate should not exceed 50% of the number of seats in the House of Representatives. Legislators in both Chambers serve a four-year term. In the House of Representatives, 123 members are elected using a single non-transferable vote system in multi-member districts and another 27 seats are elected using a closed national list system based on proportional representation, giving a total of 150 seats. Recent reforms increased the number of reserved seats for women, minorities and district representatives.[6] Both Chambers can be dissolved by the King and he may relieve any senator of his or her membership.[7]
The Constitution provides for three categories of courts: civil, religious and special.[8]
Jordan is divided into 12 Governorates: Ajlun, Al 'Aqabah, Al Balqa', Al Karak, Al Mafraq, 'Amman, At Tafilah, Az Zarqa', Irbid, Jarash, Ma'an and Madaba, each headed by a governor. Governors are appointed by the King through the Minister of the Interior and they maintain law and order at the local level, in their respective areas. The regional government acts as the executive organ for implementing cabinet decisions at the local level. Essentially, these governorates are an extension of the central government.[9] In addition to coordinating public service provision, governors are also in charge of approving local authorities' budgets and expenditures (except in the Greater Amman municipality).[10]
Governorates are subdivided into districts and sub-districts.
The local level consists of municipalities that function as chief town districts. The Law on Municipalities No. 29 of 1955 and its later amendments define the territory, the function and the authority of municipalities. Municipalities are headed by a mayor and 6 to 11 councillors, who are all elected for a four-year term. According to Article 121 of the Jordanian constitution, municipal affairs are to be administered by municipal or local rdan d. On 15 September 2011, a new Law of Municipalities was adopted (Law No. 13 of 2011). This law organises elections at the municipal level. All members of the municipal council and the mayors are directly elected. The Ministry of Municipal Affairs is responsible for the elections and an independent Election Commission supervises them. 297 municipal council seats are reserved for women.[11]
The governor may appoint a stand-in-council for an extendable two-year term in the event of a legal dispute or lack of a quorum (sufficient number of votes), or appoint two members of the councils if he feels some groups in the population are not represented.[12] A 1994 amendment excluded Amman from this arrangement. Only half of Amman's council is elected, whilst the other half, together with the mayor are directly appointed by the Council of Ministers.[13] Following a local government reform in the year 2000, Jordan's 328 municipalities were merged to form 99 new administrable units. Six were adjoined to the Greater Amman municipality, which is administered separately. Consequently, 93 municipalities remained under the remit of the Ministry of Municipal Affairs. [14]
In March 2011, the King established a National Dialogue Committee (NDC) to draft new electoral and political parties' laws and in April he launched the Royal Committee for Constitutional Reforms (RCCR) to look at amending the constitution. The King appointed the members of both bodies. The RCCR returned proposals for 42 constitutional amendments, 40 of which were approved by Parliament and subsequently passed into law by the King in September. Changes included the establishment of a constitutional court and an independent election commission to oversee elections in place of the Ministry of the Interior.
The NDC drafted a proposal to revise the electoral system, turning it into a system of proportional representation. However, the NDC did not redraw district boundaries, ensuring that tribal areas will continue to secure a disproportionate number of parliamentary seats. In effect, the committees abstained from changing the status quo regarding the relations between the King and Parliament.[15] In particular, the demand for unequivocal changes to the method of appointing the Prime Minister and Cabinet was not heeded. Currently, the King has the power to appoint the senior levels of government himself, dissolve parliament (as he did in 2009 and 2012) or independently issue laws without consulting parliament.[16]
Following consultation of the municipalities and representatives of civil society, the Ministry of Municipal Affairs prepared a new draft of the Law on Municipalities. In this draft, the Ministry divided each municipality into electoral areas, each with its own elected local council. The chairman of the local council of each area is to be a member of the council of the municipality and the mayor is to be elected directly by all the citizens of the municipality. This approach will serve two goals: promoting decentralisation, through granting executive powers by law to local councils, in the hope that this will improve the delivery of services; and second, improving the representation of electoral areas through the creation of local councils.
1.1. Central level
The elected House of Representatives can initiate legislation. However, draft laws must receive the approval of the Senate and the King. The King can return the law within six months with a statement containing the reasons for non-ratification. Only if the law is approved again by the two Houses with a qualified majority of two-third of the members of each House can the law be considered effective and ratified.[17] King Abdullah has extensive powers, including the power to appoint and dismiss governments, to suspend parliament and to rule by decree. He also controls the military and General Intelligence Directorate (GID), the agency that monitors public life. The King’s royal court and personal advisers act as the ultimate authority on core issues such as foreign relations, economic policy and internal security.[18] The centralist environment is also present in international cooperation contracts, which are almost solely conducted with central government. Jordan signed an association agreement with the EU in 2002 and adopted an EU-Jordan action plan that led to the current “advanced status” of their relationship.[19]
1.2. Regional level
Each one of the twelve governorates is led by an appointed governor. The governor is assisted by an advisory council that is composed of 15 stakeholders appointed by the Minister of the Interior and an executive council that is composed of the regional managers of governmental ministries. The governor is authorised to prioritise and advance a policy agenda according to regional needs. However, like the ministerial managers, his role is largely limited to executing central government decisions.[20]
Regional authorities have little autonomy and are responsible for carrying out national policies and ensuring effective communication between the central and local levels. Regional level authorities co-ordinate local government units in fulfilling national policies and strategies, monitoring systems and data collection. Furthermore, they oversee transport projects in their areas of responsibility. No other competencies or voluntary powers could be identified.
1.3. Local level
Article 41 of the Law on Municipalities No. 29 of 1955 details 39 functions of local government including city planning and public health. In practice however, these services may be centrally managed. The centralist approach is also demonstrated by the fact that from the 39 responsibilities entrusted to local authorities, the only social service the municipality provides is emergency services.
According to the Organising Cities, Villages & Buildings Law No. 79 of 1966, municipalities can initiate plans that are later approved by the Community of District Planning and the Ministry of Municipal Affairs, so as to play an active role in the process. However, municipalities are unable to perform this function due to the weakness of their technical and financial capabilities. Municipalities’ budgets are also highly dependent on government transfers, which include the government-collected property tax, whilst the municipality itself collects taxes on services and local projects. The municipality can also contract loans from the City and Village Development Bank (CVDB).[21]
[1] Central Intelligence Agency World Factbook.
[2] ‘Jordan's Parliament chooses PM for first time’, AlJazeera website 9.3.2013, available at http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2013/03/201339193556710937.html (EN); 'Parliamentary Elections 2013: Final Report', European Union Election Observation Mission, 20.1.2013, p. 10, available at: http://eeas.europa.eu/eueom/missions/2013/jordan/pdf/final-report_en.pdf (EN).
[3] ‘Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan Public Administration Country Profile’, p. 7.
[4] Ibid, p. 6.
[5] 'Parliamentary Elections 2013: Final Report',p. 8.
[6] Ibid, pp. 10-11; Central Intelligence Agency World Factbook.
[7] ‘Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan Public Administration Country Profile’, p. 5.
[8] Parliament website, Constitution, available at http://www.parliament.jo/en/node/150 (EN).
[9] King Hussein website, Government, available at: http://www.kinghussein.gov.jo/government2.html (EN).
[10] ‘General Analysis of the Municipal Sector – Annex B’, The World Bank 24.5.2005, p. 4, available at http://www.mota.gov.jo/ar/Documents/Contecno/General/Municipal_sector.pdf (EN).
[11] Ma’an News Agency, Polls open in Jordan municipal election, 27 August 2013, available at http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=624441 (EN).
[12] ‘Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan Public Administration Country Profile’, DPADM & DESA United Nations paper (February 2004), pp. 7-8, available at: http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/un/unpan023177.pdf (EN).
[13] ‘General Analysis of the Municipal Sector – Annex B’, pp. 4-6.
[14] ‘The Report: Jordan 2009’, p. 20 (EN).
[15] Freedom House; Julien Barnes-Dacey, 'Europe and Jordan: Reform Before It’s too Late', European Council on Foreign relations (April 2012), p. 5. Available at: http://www.ecfr.eu/page/-/ECFR54_JORDAN_BRIEF_AW.pdf (EN).
[16] Ibid.
[17] BBC News, Middle East Q&A: Jordan Elections, available at
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-21143037 (EN); 'Parliamentary Elections 2013: Final Report', p. 10.
[18] Freedom House.
[19] European Commission, Jordan, available in http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/where/neighbourhood/country-cooperation/jordan/jordan_en.htm (EN).
[20] ‘General Analysis of the Municipal Sector – Annex B’, p. 4; See also critic over governors detaining powers: Human Rights Watch, 'Guests of the Governor: Administrative Detention Undermines the Rule of Law in Jordan' (May 2009), pp. 1-56, available at: http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/jordan0509web.pdf (EN).
[21] ‘General Analysis of the Municipal Sector – Annex B’, pp. 13-14, 20.
