Time ‘ripe’ for dialogue with gov’t — Brotherhood

AMMAN — The Muslim Brotherhood has called for immediate dialogue with authorities without preconditions in a bid they claim to protect the country’s national unity in the face of challenges posed by regional crises.

In an interview, overall leader of the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan, Hammam Saeed, announced the country’s largest opposition movement’s willingness to enter an “immediate and productive” dialogue with authorities over the country’s political future “without preconditions” in a bid to protect the country against what he claimed as growing social, economic and political divisions. 

“Currently, Jordan’s security, stability and national unity is being threatened by various regional political and economic crises, namely the Syrian conflict and attempts to give away the right of return of Palestinian refugees in the so-called Israeli-Palestinian negotiations,” Saeed told The Jordan Times in an interview. 

“Now the time is right for immediate dialogue with decision makers to arrive at a parliamentary government in order to confront these crises.”

Saeed indicated that the Islamist movement would set no preconditions to the hypothetical talks, whose agenda, Islamist leaders believe, should centre on changes to the country’s Elections Law, whose controversial one-man, one-vote formula spurred the Brotherhood to boycott successive legislative elections. 

The only guarantees sought by the opposition movement ahead of the proposed talks are a set time frame and Royal backing, Saeed indicated. 

“Only when we arrive at the formation of parliamentary governments that reflect the will of the people can the state alleviate the pressure being placed on the Kingdom by the regional political climate,” Saeed said.

The calls come less than a week after Zaki Bani Rsheid, Saeed’s deputy, urged officials for a comprehensive “national dialogue” over the country’s political future.

Minister of Political and Parliamentary Affairs Khaled Kalaldeh indicated that the government is prepared to enter talks with various political forces over the country’s political reform process and future.

Ties between authorities and the Brotherhood have been tenuous since the Islamist movement’s abrupt withdrawal from national political reform initiatives and boycott of successive parliamentary elections. 

Talks over the Brotherhood’s inclusion in a previous national dialogue over political reform collapsed in 2011 due to the Islamist movement’s insistence on amendments to articles 34, 35 and 36 of the Constitution, which stipulate the King’s authorities regarding appointment of governments.