Tarawneh re-elected House speaker

AMMAN — Deputies on Sunday re-elected by secret ballot veteran MP Atef Tarawneh as the Lower House speaker for another one-year term.

Tarawneh’s election was a landslide win, gaining 79 votes with 28, 23 and 13 ballots cast to his rivals Amjad Majali, Mefleh Ruheimi and Hadithah Khreisha, respectively.

A total of 148 deputies, out of 150, participated in the vote. Three ballots were cancelled as they contained the names of more than one candidate, while two ballots were found blank.

Deputy Ahmad Safadi was elected as the speaker’s first deputy, securing the post for the second term with 75 votes over his rival MP Adnan Ajarmeh who gained 66 votes.  

The second deputy position was won by MP Sleiman Zaben. 

MP Abdul Karim Dughmi chaired the session as he has had a continuous presence in Parliament since 1989 in line with the new amendments to Lower House’s by-laws under which the deputy with the longest membership presides over the first meeting.

Before amending the Lower House’s by-laws, the début meeting used to be chaired by the eldest deputy.

Some tension erupted under the Dome when Ruheimi, from the National Action bloc, was shouting in dissatisfaction with official results and also accusing “political money” of manipulating the results. Dughmi then intervened and refuted what Ruheimi said. Dughmi had to seek police help to calm spectators in the gallery.

Presiding over the session after his election, Tarawneh pledged collaboration with his colleagues to endorse the laws and perform oversight over the government according to the book.

He also pledged to work with all deputies and the government to push the reform process forward in line with the guidelines His Majesty King Abdullah drew in his Speech from the Throne earlier in the day (see separate story). 

Attending the session with his ministerial team, Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour also vowed to cooperate with the House, stressing that the current challenges require the highest degree of synchronisation between the legislative and executive branches of government. 

Right after the King’s address, the Senate convened and formed a committee, comprising senators Marouf Bakhit, Jawad Anani, Abdul Ilah Khatib, Saleh Qallab and Haifa Najjar to draft a reply to the speech, in accordance with the Upper House’s by-laws.