Maaita: Political reform accelerators begin with royal patroncy to popular confidence.
June 28, 2022
The Center for Life- Monitor, in collaboration with the Independent Electoral Commission, launched the national conference "Accelerators of Political Reform in Jordan", which is in line with the Jordanian state's vision to modernize the political system, and is in line with the outcomes of the Royal Commission for the Modernization of the Political System.
At the first session of the conference, State of Al Ain Samir Rifai, chairman of the Royal Commission for the Modernization of the Political System, said that today we are facing a historic moment, one year after the formation of the committee, after the completion of the legislative framework is no less important than it is, but perhaps it increases, stressing that without the popular will support and official embrace will not change legislation anything, so we all have to work hand in hand with determination, al-Rifai added that after the consensus of the different political and intellectual spectrums, the popular and official will expressed Support them in several ways, the most important of which are: amending the Constitution and a number of laws, integrating a number of existing parties and currents into new frameworks, and proceeding with the licensing procedures of a group of new parties and their tours in order to explain their visions and the accompanying popular interest.
Al-Rifai said that all of this is not enough and we are still waiting for more, mainly to increase the attention of official institutions and deepen their commitment to creating an environment friendly to party life and work for it, and continued that the most important thing we need now is to work with the official and his view of the parties to remove what has stuck in the mind of many of us for years of fear of party life, especially since in the new centenary of Jordan there is one title for political action, namely parties.
Al-Rifai called on the parties to continue to develop themselves, their tools and the language of their speech in line with the spirit of the times and the language of youth, and to develop programs that touch the need of the citizen in accordance with the political and economic approach of the party, and most importantly, all of them must address the citizen as a conscious partner in the political process and a basic goal that the party seeks to obtain its satisfaction, demanding that the party that reaches the position of responsibility not to abandon the citizen and turn on any programs and promises that brought him to the site.
Al-Rifai said that the success of any party is not by the number of its members or the seats it holds, but by believing in its program and convincing the citizen of it, and that no party resorts to populist speeches that tickle emotions at the expense of programs, but what is important is its sincerity with the citizens and adopting issues of interest to them and making an achievement in them, otherwise we will lose the confidence of the citizen and harm the future of the political process.
On the participation of young people and women and their expected role in political life, Rifai said that they have a greater responsibility, first of all to encourage their peers and counterparts to engage in politics, and that they must be leaders within their parties and impose their presence and reject any attempt to turn them into a figure needed by the party to complete the requirements of establishment or candidacy.
He said: Jordanian women in particular should believe in their potential and support their female counterparts, stressing that the 20% allocated to women in the political modernization package is less than a little, and that the contribution of Jordanian women to the labor market, which constitutes 13% is very small and does not reflect the reality of women or their abilities, and women should work to change that.
He pointed out that Jordan has already many countries in granting women the right to vote and run and now we see women in leadership positions in those countries, and we are still talking about empowerment, rifai called on citizens to compare the proposals of different parties and those who were not interested in engaging in political and party work at least have a duty to convey his desires and ambitions to future policy makers, stressing that everyone should look at party and political work as a means of public service and not as a tool to reach the official site Or personal interest, and public position is not a means of dominating the entire landscape and excluding others, we are all working hand in hand to serve the nation.
For his part, the Chairman of the Board of Commissioners of the Independent Electoral Commission Engineer Musa Al-Maaita pointed out that the democratic process that the Jordanian state has lived since the beginning of its era, a march established for the state of institutions and law that we lived and live today, and we are working to develop it tomorrow; The reference is the independent Jordanian judiciary, which is known for its fair reputation globally, which means that we have been living in a real application of the principle of separation of powers and democratic dialogue for decades, which contributed to overcoming all the challenges and difficulties that we faced, which the Jordanian people have always met by circumventing their leadership and adhering to the principles of their state.
Al-Maaita stressed that the first and most important accelerator of reform in Jordan is royal care, and that the second accelerator is the support of the constitutional institutions for these reform steps, and the third accelerator today comes with the support of reform partners from civil society and media and international destinations in raising awareness and education of the importance and form of participation, so that the fourth accelerator later is the popular trust that we are working together to raise its percentage, and al-Maaita spoke that the process of modernization is an ongoing march and not reactions, but a system of life led directly by the Foundation of the Throne and precedes us to demand With reform and development in a country in a region we all know what happened and what is happening with it.
"We are happy with the new energy behind political reform, and we in Britain are proud of our long democratic history, but at the same time we are humbly aware that there is room to learn for all of us," said British Ambassador to Jordan Bridget Brind. The 10%, but today one third of the parliament is women, and the ambassador stressed that states and political systems have learned that expanding women's political participation takes time in order to reach real representation of citizens, Minister Meling also talked about the importance of solidarity and celebrating achievement, to help women, minorities and everyone else, and this applies as well, according to Ambassador Bernd on political parties, where she said: You are really competing, but that doesn't stop you from sharing lessons learned and achievement.
The Ambassador stressed the principles that ensure the success of political reform, namely, inclusiveness: so that everyone, especially young people and women, and all members of society participate in the reform process, and the principle of impact, where it is important for citizens to see the results of the reform process and its implementation, the end of repetition and determination, and to realize that change needs time and patience, and does not happen overnight, Bridget said that we benefited in Britain from the participation of students in universities and schools, and we recognize the importance of providing a safe environment for students to engage in political life, adding that the most important obstacles In the past, women's participation in parliament in Britain is sometimes held late at night, unless it is available to women, so we say: the process, institutions must be inclusive and accessible to all without exception.
She said: The reform plan is ambitious, and its time span is appropriate, in 10 years it can achieve an important achievement, while it can stabilize what is on the horizon, and most importantly, citizens see a significant change, ambassador Bernd stressed the important regional role of Jordan, and said that what makes us impressive in our partnership with Jordan is that it offers a leading model in the region, and stressed that institutions that build on political representation, where every citizen sees himself in parliament and elected institutions, is what produces Impregnable institutions, promoting Jordan's prevention and regional stability. When asked whether the reform process would make Jordan more vulnerable in the face of some dictatorships, she replied: On the contrary, the more representative and supportive institutions are for freedoms, the more impregnable independent institutions are
