Jordan’s Cabinet Dissolves Local, Municipal Councils

A Jordanian woman casts her ballot at a polling station for local and municipal elections in Amman, Jordan. (Reuters/File)
A Jordanian woman casts her ballot at a polling station for local and municipal elections in Amman, Jordan. (Reuters/File)
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Jordan’s Cabinet Dissolves Local, Municipal Councils

A Jordanian woman casts her ballot at a polling station for local and municipal elections in Amman, Jordan. (Reuters/File)
A Jordanian woman casts her ballot at a polling station for local and municipal elections in Amman, Jordan. (Reuters/File)

The Jordanian Cabinet decided on Wednesday to dissolve municipal and local councils as well as the council of the Greater Amman Municipality (GAM).

It also decided to set up ad hoc committees to run the affairs of municipalities and the GAM council during the coming period.

The cabinet didn’t make official statements to determine the election date, however sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that they might take place between August and October.

The decision reflects the Jordanian authorities’ keenness to commit to the elections’ deadline, despite the challenging conditions in the country and the surge in COVID-19 deaths and infections.

Reliable sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that the government prepared amendments to draft laws related to the local authority for the parliament to discuss next week.

The sources said the amendments might lead to reducing a number of council members by expanding the powers of administrative governors and requesting a university degree for membership eligibility .

The upcoming municipal elections are expected to take place amid a partial lockdown and the uncertain epidemiological situation in the country.

The Independent Election Commission, which is the national electoral commission responsible for administering and supervising elections under the Constitution of Jordan, has prepared measures for the elections that ban gatherings inside polling stations and counting centers.

More than 8,000 ballot boxes were distributed over approximately 4,000 centers in the kingdom.



Lebanon's Caretaker Prime Minister Visits Military Positions in the Country's South

Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati (C) arrives with cabinet ministers for a meeting at Benoit Barakat barracks in Tyre, southern Lebanon, 07 December 2024. (EPA)
Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati (C) arrives with cabinet ministers for a meeting at Benoit Barakat barracks in Tyre, southern Lebanon, 07 December 2024. (EPA)
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Lebanon's Caretaker Prime Minister Visits Military Positions in the Country's South

Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati (C) arrives with cabinet ministers for a meeting at Benoit Barakat barracks in Tyre, southern Lebanon, 07 December 2024. (EPA)
Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati (C) arrives with cabinet ministers for a meeting at Benoit Barakat barracks in Tyre, southern Lebanon, 07 December 2024. (EPA)

Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister has begun a tour of military positions in the country’s south, almost a month after a ceasefire deal that ended the war between Israel and the Hezbollah group that battered the country.
Najib Mikati on Monday was on his first visit to the southern frontlines, where Lebanese soldiers under the US-brokered deal are expected to gradually deploy, with Hezbollah militants and Israeli troops both expected to withdraw by the end of next month, The Associated Press said.
Mikati’s tour comes after the Lebanese government expressed its frustration over ongoing Israeli strikes and overflights in the country.
“We have many tasks ahead of us, the most important being the enemy's (Israel's) withdrawal from all the lands it encroached on during its recent aggression,” he said after meeting with army chief Joseph Aoun in a Lebanese military barracks in the southeastern town of Marjayoun. “Then the army can carry out its tasks in full.”
The Lebanese military for years has relied on financial aid to stay functional, primarily from the United States and other Western countries. Lebanon’s cash-strapped government is hoping that the war’s end and ceasefire deal will bring about more funding to increase the military’s capacity to deploy in the south, where Hezbollah’s armed units were notably present.
Though they were not active combatants, the Lebanese military said that dozens of its soldiers were killed in Israeli strikes on their premises or patrolling convoys in the south. The Israeli army acknowledged some of these attacks.