Amman: King Abdullah II of Jordan has tasked Jaafar Hassan with forming a new government, succeeding Bisher Khasawneh, whose resignation was accepted by the king.
Khasawneh’s government, which resigned early Sunday morning, will continue handling day-to-day affairs until the new government is formed and assumes its duties, the state-run Petra news agency reported.
Hassan has previously served as director of the Office of the King, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Economic Affairs, Minister of Planning and International Cooperation, Xinhua news agency reported.
Khasawneh’s government resigned after the parliamentary elections, during which the Islamic Action Front, the political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood, won 31 out of 138 seats.
In a letter appointing Hassan as Prime Minister, the king directed the government to dedicate all efforts to supporting Palestinians and defending their rights.
“Jordan stands firmly against the war on Gaza and the assaults in the West Bank and Jerusalem. We are working with all our capacity through Arab and international efforts to protect the Palestinian people and halt the blatant violations of humanitarian principles and international law. We will always remain the steadfast ally of our brothers in Palestine,” said the king in the letter.
Under the kingdom’s constitution, the government usually resigns after legislative elections. It is the king who appoints the Prime Minister, not Parliament, which has limited powers.
The king also added that the government must work with the House of Representatives to deepen the foundations of democracy and its concepts, and highlighted the importance of continuing the kingdom’s prudent financial policies to maintain economic stability and control debt in the face of regional and international challenges.
Jordan in 1994 signed a peace treaty with Israel, becoming only the second Arab state to do so, after Egypt. But regular protests have called for the treaty’s dissolution since the war erupted last October, when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists invaded southern Israel, killing nearly 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages.
Nearly half of Jordan’s population is of Palestinian origin.
Harvard-educated Hassan, a widely respected technocrat, will face the challenges of mitigating the impact of the nearby war on the kingdom’s economy, hard-hit by curbs on investment and a sharp drop in tourism.
In the first quarter of 2024, the unemployment rate was 21 per cent.
The outgoing Prime Minister had sought to drive reforms pushed by King Abdullah to help reverse a decade of sluggish growth, hovering at around two per cent, that was worsened by the pandemic and conflict in neighbouring Iraq and Syria.
–IANS