House postpones discussion of Rules of Procedure

AMMAN — The Lower House on Sunday postponed deliberations over amendments to its Rules of Procedure, amid rising voices to put the regulations on the table for further changes to ensure on attendance commitment by deputies during sessions.

MPs only discussed one article from the bylaws, after which Deputy Mahmoud Kharabsheh (Balqa, 1st District) proposed postponing the discussions until a later stage.

Lower House Speaker Atef Tarawneh asked MPs to vote on this proposal, which obtained 50 votes out of the 101 deputies present in the 150-member House.

However, several MPs protested against the vote, with some claiming that it should be put to debate after MPs discuss the amendments, while others wanted Tarawneh to carry out the vote again.

The speaker then called for a revote, in which 56 MPs voted in favour of postponement. In response, Tarawneh adjourned the meeting until Tuesday morning.

“I suspect that there is a deliberate attempt to avoid discussing the amendments to this regulation today,” he said.

Several MPs also expressed their dissatisfaction with the outcome of the session, with some of them saying “postponing the meeting was the wrong action.”

After this announcement, Deputy Abdul Munim Odat (Irbid, 1st District), who heads the Legal Committee, urged his colleagues to submit their suggestions on amending the rules for the panel to examine.

Prior to Sunday’s session, deputies held what they described as a “consultative meeting” to discuss the proposed amendments to the Rules of Procedure, with 70 MPs in attendance.

Parliamentary sources told The Jordan Times that deputies are in disagreement over a provision in the proposed amendments that imposes a JD100 deduction on any lawmaker who does not attend a Lower House meeting without prior notification to the Permanent Office.

Other deputies also protested against what they described as “attempts to strip them of their constitutional rights in expressing their views under the Dome”, as the new amendments stipulate that MPs submit their suggestions over any draft legislations to the concerned committee and not while the session is in progress.