House begins deliberations over municipalities law

AMMAN — The Lower House began on Sunday, the first day of its new extraordinary session, deliberating the draft municipalities law.

The draft laws on municipalities and decentralisation are two of the foremost legislative bills on the agenda of the extraordinary session, and they are part of the country’s democratic reform programme. 

The draft law on municipalities is intended to boost the independence of municipalities and to ensure the decentralisation process through the establishment of local councils. 

At Sunday’s session, attended by Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour, deputies endorsed the definitions in the draft law on municipalities. 

Ensour said the phrase “Jerusalem mayor” used in the bill denotes that Jordan neither acknowledges the current legal status of the city of Jerusalem nor the Israeli municipal council governing it. 

The House also held a lengthy discussion over the definition of the word “resident” and it was agreed that residents are the persons who usually live within the boundaries of a local council, even if they have a residence in another place where they stay occasionally, provided that they do not use their right to vote in more than one municipality or local council. 

Also during the session, the House referred the draft law on the ratification of the Vienna Convention on Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage to its Legal Committee. 

At the beginning of the House session, Speaker Atef Tarawneh reaffirmed Jordan’s condemnation of the “heinous crime” committed by Israeli settlers against a Palestinian family in Nablus, which killed the family’s 18-month-old toddler while his parents and brother were reportedly in critical condition. 

The House also denounced the fatal terrorist attacks that occurred in Sitra, Bahrain.    

On July 21, a Royal Decree was issued summoning Parliament to convene in an extraordinary session as of August 1 to endorse several bills.