Jordan’s King Abdullah II today instructed his chief of staff to form a new government.
This follows the September 10 legislative elections, which the Islamic Action Front party won, the palace announced.
Under the constitution, the government resigns after the legislative elections, which took place today, and it is the king who appoints the prime minister, not the parliament, which enjoys limited powers.
“King Abdullah instructed Jaafar Hassan on Sunday to form a new government,” the palace said in a statement.
Hassan, 56, replaces Bishr Al Jasauneh, who has led the government since October 2020 and who previously submitted his resignation to the king, state television reported.
“The government of Bishr Al Jasauneh has submitted its resignation to the Jordanian king,” Jordan’s official Petra news agency reported today.
According to the statement, this was Al Jausaneh’s longest term as Prime Minister since Abdullah II took office as King of Jordan in February 1999, and in the last three years he has undergone seven reshuffles, with several changes in portfolio.
After Al Jausaneh announced his resignation, Abdullah II issued a statement accepting the resignation of the Jordanian Executive and thanking him for all his efforts in the last legislature in which he had to face the coronavirus pandemic and the serious effects it left on the country, as well as everything that the reform of the political and electoral system in 2022 entailed.
Director of King Abdullah II’s office, the new government director held the position of Minister of Planning.
In the legislative elections held on Tuesday, the Islamic Action Front (AIF), the political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood and the main opposition party in Jordan, emerged victorious among the political groups after a vote marked by low turnout, against a backdrop of a slow economy and war in the Gaza Strip.
Out of a total of 138 seats, the Islamists won 31, including 17 (out of 41) reserved for political parties and the rest allocated to the regions.
The Jordanian Parliament is bicameral. In addition to the 138 elected deputies, it has 69 senators appointed by the monarch. The assembly can withdraw its authority from the government, sign and publish laws.
According to analysts, the war in the Gaza Strip between Israel and the Palestinian movement Hamas influenced the outcome of the legislative elections in the kingdom, which has been linked to Israel by a treaty of tranquility since 1994 and where almost half of the Jordanian population is of Palestinian origin.
Protests regularly demand the cancellation of this treaty.
The war in Gaza has also dealt a severe blow to the economy of Jordan, a country neighbouring Israel and the occupied West Bank, in terms of personnel in the tourism sector (14% of GDP).
The kingdom is heavily dependent on foreign aid, notably from the United States and the International Monetary Fund, and unemployment reached 21% in the first quarter of 2024.