Jafar Hassan has been named Jordan’s new prime minister by the king after final week’s parliamentary elections.
Jordan’s King Abdullah II has accepted the resignation of the federal government led by Prime Minister Bisher al-Khasawneh after final week’s parliamentary elections have been dominated by frustration over Israel’s warfare on Gaza.
Khasawneh, a 55-year-old veteran diplomat, had led the federal government since October 2020.
The king designated Jafar Hassan, a technocrat and former planning minister at the moment serving because the king’s head of workplace, in his place.
A royal palace assertion stated King Abdullah had ordered the federal government to stay in a caretaker capability till the formation of a brand new cupboard.
Below the dominion’s structure, the federal government often resigns after legislative elections. It’s the king who appoints the prime minister – not the parliament, which has restricted powers.
The Parliament of Jordan is bicameral. Folks straight elect representatives to its Home of Representatives each 4 years, however the king appoints all 65 members of the higher chamber, the Senate.
The nation’s Islamic Motion Entrance (IAF), the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, got here out prime in Tuesday’s ballot, profitable 31 out of the 138 seats in parliament, the celebration’s largest illustration since 1989.
Regardless of a low turnout of 32 %, the celebration’s success got here with voters annoyed about financial woes and Israel’s warfare on Gaza.
Jordan in 1994 signed a peace treaty with Israel, turning into solely the second Arab state to take action after Egypt.
Since Israel’s warfare on Gaza started in October 2023, Jordan has tried to stroll a political tightrope by sustaining diplomatic relations with Israel and even intervening in Iran’s retaliatory assault on Israel in April when Jordan shot down missiles as they flew over its territory.
This stance has angered a good portion of Jordan’s residents, lots of whom are descendants of the Palestinians pressured out of their lands in each the Nakba and the 1967 war.
The warfare in Gaza has additionally hit tourism in Jordan, which depends on the sector for about 14 % of its gross home product.
The dominion additionally closely relies on international support, particularly from the USA and the Worldwide Financial Fund.
Within the first quarter of 2024, the unemployment charge in Jordan was 21 %.
