38 licensed parties with over 80,000 members — Political affairs minister

AMMAN — Minister of Political and Parliamentary Affairs Haditha Khraisha on Saturday said that there are 38 licensed political parties in the Kingdom, with more than 80,000 members affiliated with political parties.

Khraisha, during a meeting with several journalists, as part of a dialogue session on the political reform system, said that 2024 is the year of political reform and that the forthcoming elections would give rise to politically driven parties with programmes, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The session, held at the Hussein Youth City, was attended by Secretary-General of the Ministry of Political and Parliamentary Affairs Ali Khawaldeh and Secretary-General of the Ministry of Government Communications Zaid Nawaiseh, and is part of meetings conducted by the government with representatives of media, social, and youth sectors.

Khraisha pointed out that the legislation produced by the political reform system, including the elections and political party laws, would pave the way for a Lower House grounded in political principles and set the stage for partisan and programmatic parliaments.

He also stressed that the essence of political reform is to expand the base of political participation and engage citizens in decision-making, as His Majesty King Abdullah emphasised in various meetings.

The minister expressed optimism to see an increase in the political participation rate in the upcoming elections, aiming to exceed the previous rate of around 30 per cent.

Nawaiseh said that the political reform system, launched by the King, is an ambitious future-oriented project that aims to establish party-based parliaments on programmatic bases to serve citizens.

He affirmed the readiness of the Ministry of Government Communications, in cooperation with the Ministry of Political and Parliamentary Affairs, to conduct a training programme for television and radio programme hosts and producers on political reform.

Journalists stressed the need for comprehensive training workshops to elucidate the elections and political party laws and called for intensified media coverage of these laws in the lead-up to the upcoming parliamentary elections.