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Ammon News - By Banan Malkawi

AMMONNEWS - Jordanian opposition parties called on Prime Minister Marouf Bakhit to withdraw the amended electoral law from the Lower House of Parliament and redrafting a new electoral law that is based on party-lists and proportional representation.

In the letter sent on Saturday, the opposition parties called on Bakhit to hold a national dialogue initiative to discuss the new electoral law within a 2-month time frame to prepare for early elections based on the new law.

"What the region is witnessing of unprecedented popular movements, and what took place in Tunisia and Egypt, puts us in front of a new era that requires careful reading and dealing with its implications with positive steps," the statement said.

The statement noted that the difficult economic conditions, unemployment, poverty, soaring prices, and corruption, in addition to the widening base of activism calling for reform, requires a national dialogue to confront the domestic and foreign challenges facing Jordan.

The statement stressed that the government needs to prioritize drafting a new electoral law and put a systemic mechanism for the reform process.

The opposition parties also called for expediting presenting referring the Public Assembly law to the Lower House of Parliament for amendment, reconsidering the political parties' law, forming a professional association for teachers, and combating the grave phenomenon of corruption.

The opposition parties that signed on the statement include the Jordanian Socialist Baath Party, the Progressive Party, Islamic Action Front (IAF), Democratic National Movement, Democratic 'Hashd' People's party, the Jordanian Communist Party, and the Jordanian Populist Democratic Party (Wehda).