Jordan’s King Abdullah on Saturday accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Omar al Razzaz but asked him to stay on as a caretaker premier until he designates a successor to oversee parliamentary elections on Nov. 10, state media said.
The monarch dissolved parliament last Sunday at the end of its four-year term in a move that under constitutional rules meant the government had to resign within a week.
A new government will pave the way for the November vote, as the country grapples with the rapid spread of COVID-19 infections over the last month for which the last government had been widely criticized.
King Abdullah appointed Razzaz in the summer of 2018 to defuse the biggest protests in years over tax increases sought by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to reduce Jordan’s large public debt.
The monarch told Razzaz in a letter accepting his resignation that mistakes were made in the handling of the pandemic, echoing medical fears the health care system could come to the brink of collapse if the community spread gets out of control.
Jordan reported 1,099 new cases on Saturday bringing the cumulative total to 14,749 infections with 88 deaths.
