King appoints new 65-strong Senate

AMMAN — A Royal Decree was issued on Tuesday dissolving the Senate as of September 27, while another listed the names of the 65 members of the Upper House, presided over by Faisal Fayez, who kept his title from the previous Senate, according to a Royal Court statement.

The makeup of the new Upper House includes four former prime ministers, including Fayez, along with Marouf Bakhit, Sameer Rifai and Abdullah Ensour.

In total, the makeup of the new Senate includes 47 figures that were not in the previous Chamber, while 18, including the president, retained their seats. 

Four ministers of the incumbent Cabinet, which serves as a caretaker until Prime Minister Hani Mulki forms his new government, the second in a row, were appointed as senators, which suggests that they might not be members in the new government, although there is no law against combining the two jobs. 

The four ministers are Bassam Talhouni (justice), Yassera Ghousheh (public sector reform), Rida Khawaldeh (agriculture) and Wajih Owais (higher education). 

The lineup also includes a former Royal Court chief, Nasser Lozi, two police chiefs, Tawfiq Tawalbeh and Thaher Fawaz and a former Gendarmerie chief, Ahmad Sweilmin. 

The new Senate witnessed the comeback of Talal Abu Ghazaleh, who had resigned from the Upper House after a law banned double nationality in senior posts, but was changed later.

The lineup includes 10 women, constituting 15.38 per cent of the total number of senators, up from 8, or 11.2 per cent in the previous Upper House.   

The dissolution of the Senate was expected as constitutionally mandatory, in line with Article 63 of the Constitution, which stipulates that the number of senators should equal or be less than half the number of deputies in the Lower House.

The new Elections Law, under which the September 20 parliamentary polls were conducted, reduced the number of Lower House members from 150 to 130. 

"Consequently, the current [71]-strong Senate is unconstitutional and should be reduced to a maximum of 65 members," a parliamentary source told The Jordan Times on Monday.

SENATE LIST

Following is the list of the members of the Senate: 

1. Faisal Fayez
2. Marouf Bakhit
3. Samir Rifai
4. Abdullah Ensour
5. Marwan Hmoud
6. Rajai Muasher
7. Hisham Khatib
8. Mohammad Ghneimeh 
9. Abdul Razzaq Tbeishat
10. Talal Ereiqat
11. Munir Sobar
12. Kamal Nasser Barham
13. Nasser Lozi
14. Munther Haddadin
15. Mohammad Jawad Hadid
16. Tamam Ghoul
17. Haidar Mahmoud
18. Alia Hatough
19. Amal Farhan
20. Nayef Hadid
21. Hala Lattouf
22. Mohammad Najjar
23. Samir Murad
24. Ayman Safadi
25. Rabiha Dabbas
26. Mazen Saket
27. Wajih Owais
28. Atef Tal
29. Taher Shakhshir
30. Adel Bani Mohammad
31. Umayya Toukan
32. Haya Qaralleh
33. Yousef Jazi
34. Bassam Talhouni
35. Ayman Hatahet
36. Rida Khawaldeh
37. Yasera Ghosheh
38. Hammad Maaytah
39. Osama Malkawi
40. Nael Kabariti
41. Talal Abu Ghazaleh
42. Yousef Goussous
43. Haifa Najjar
44. Taghreed Hikmat
45. Ziad Homsi 
46. Ahmad Sweilmin
47. Mustafa Barari
48. Omar Maani
49. Abdullah Musa
50. Hassan Abu Nimeh
51. Khalil Issa Othman
52. Ghazi Tayyeb
53. Tawfiq Tawalbeh
54. Thaher Fawaz
55. Manaf Hijazi
56. Omeish Omeish
57. Faisal Fayyad
58. Mahmoud Abu Juma
59. Ziad Quraan
60. Sawsan Majali
61. Ghazi Abu Hassan
62. Issa Murad
63. Fida Hmoud
64. Samir Abdul Hadi
65. Sakher Dudin