House session adjourned for lack of quorum

AMMAN — Lower House Deputy Speaker Ahmad Safadi on Wednesday adjourned the session due to lack of quorum, amid MPs’ deliberations over the draft investment law.

Less than 75 out of 150 MPs were present under the Dome when Safadi announced that the session had lost quorum.

More than 75 MPs are required to be in attendance for a Lower House meeting to be legal.

Safadi encouraged the press to publish the names of absent deputies, in a bid to pressure them into attending all meetings.

The Jordan News Agency, Petra, posted the names of the absent MPs.

MPs managed to endorse a few articles of draft legislation before Safadi adjourned the session less than two hours after it began.

During the meeting, deputies rejected a proposal from MP Abdul Karim Dughmi, a former speaker, to require any foreigner wishing to invest in Jordan to keep a deposit of JD100,000 in a local bank. 

Dughmi said his proposal would prevent any possibility of fraud.

The MPs also rejected another proposal to include the Aqaba Special Economic Zone under the draft investment law, as investments in this special zone are governed through its authority’s law.