by Taylor Luck, Jordan Times
AMMAN — More than the country’s fourth government since the launch of the Arab Spring, observers say the Prime Ministry’s latest occupant may represent the final chance to revive the country’s stalled reform drive, according to political analysts.
By tendering his surprise resignation on Thursday, outgoing premier Awn Khasawneh placed a spotlight on the country’s flagging reform process and the failure of successive governments to realise political change, they said.
The delay in democratic reforms was the central theme in His Majesty King Abdullah’s Letter of Designation to Fayez Tarawneh and his response to Khasawneh’s resignation, in which he stressed that the country “does not have the luxury of time” in its political development.
“The King was very clear; political reform is the only answer to the difficult political and economic conditions the country is going through, and we cannot afford to wait,” said Samih Maaytah, political observer and head of Al Arab Al Yawm’s editorial board.
Those who have stepped through the Prime Ministry’s revolving door to carry through reforms have had to deal with a series of events largely outside their control.
Despite overseeing “milestones” in 2011 such as the National Dialogue Committee and the largest overhaul of the Constitution in half a century, observers say former premier Marouf Bakhit suffered poor relations with the Islamist-led opposition and MPs’ distrust that posed several roadblocks to his efforts to push through reform legislation.
The growing resistance from various political forces, and a series of nationwide protests over municipal elections, eventually forced Bakhit to step down before seeing the reforms through.
Prime Minister-designate Fayez Tarawneh, left, and Lower House Speaker Abdul Karim Dughmi after concluding meetings with Parliament blocs on Sunday (Petra photo
I am tempted to put this post also under ‘Laughter is the best medicine’. His Majesty the King says that ‘reform should be done quickly’ and changes the Prime Minister time after time. In fact it was him who decided in the past (or his predecessors)that the Prime Minister will be appointed. Therefore he could decide in one minute that from now on the Prime Minister needs to be elected. Instead he tells the Parliament, the Prime Minister, all political parties, even student organizations and the ‘civil society’ at large that you all should work on ‘reforms’. The more that work on it ‘the better’ or may be ‘the longer it will take’ ?