MPs decide to ease conditions for appointment of judicial council president

AMMAN — The Lower House on Tuesday decided to amend a provision in the draft independence of the judiciary law easing conditions for the appointment of the Court of Cassation president.

Under this amendment, those eligible for this position will need to have 25 years work experience as a judge and lawyer, instead of a minimum of 15 years of experience as a judge.

This decision was reached one day after some MPs called for new constitutional amendments to grant His Majesty King Abdullah the exclusive authority to appoint the Court of Cassation president, who also heads the Higher Judicial Council.

They called for stripping the government of its constitutional right to name the president and refer the nomination to the King for his approval.

However, deputies added another amendment that governs the appointment and termination of service procedures for judges, linking them with a Royal Decree. 

The Chamber of Deputies will hold further deliberations over this bill during Wednesday’s session, according to Lower House Deputy Speaker Ahmad Safadi who chaired the session on Tuesday.

MPs are still in disagreement over Article 4 of the draft law, which was endorsed last Sunday and covers the formation of the council, as some MPs oppose having four elected members.

The mechanism would entail adding four seats to the council whose members are elected from among the judges.