Ammon News - By Banan Malkawi

AMMONNEWS - The Jordanian Democratic Popular Unity Party (JDPUP) announced in a press conference on Saturday that it is preparing mechanisms to implement its decision to boycott the upcoming parliamentary elections in coordination with other national movements to hold a national assembly to implement the boycott program.

The Party's Secretary General, Dr. Saeed Dhiyab told 'Al Arab Al Yawm' newspaper that the assembly will be the fruit of discussions between national movements that have announced their boycott of the elections throughout the kingdom, noting that such assembly should express the general public sentiment regarding conditions in the country and produce an effective political program aimed at activating political and economic reform in the country.

In its statement read during the conference, JDPUP said that its decision to boycott the elections scheduled for November 9th, 2010, is a democratic right and a national political stance that refuses to be controlled by preconditions set by the government and giving legitimacy to a process aimed at rigging the will of the people.

Dhiyab charged that the government does not want political parties or political pluralism in the country, stressing that the current electoral law only serves a specific beneficiary stratum of society and not political action, Al Arab Al Yawm reported.

"If the government had any intention to reinforce political pluralism, it would have set mechanisms to advance political life in the country," Dhiyab added.

On the conditions that led JDPUP to boycott the elections, Dhiyab said that the government exploited the absence of the legislative branch to issue the electoral law as a temporary law and ignored the will of the public.

"The government issued the law away from any interaction or discussion with political parties or civil society organizations, despite the serious and effective recommendations put forth by many national movements, especially opposition parties," he said.

Dhiyab charged that the government ignored all the calls for adopting fundamental changes to the electoral law, putting forth instead a temporary law that instills the "service" aspect of a parliamentarian's job, rather than the deputies' main responsibility in legislation and oversight of the government's performance, Al Arab Al Yawm reported.

"The government wants to produce a House of Parliament it can have power over, that blocks opposing opinions and lacks the presence of political opposition powers," he added.

The party said during the press conference that it has four demands for political reform and the electoral process: 1) to amend the electoral law by overcoming the one-person one-vote system and adopting relative representation, 2) forming a neutral national commission to monitor the elections, 3) amending public regulatory laws such as public assembly, political parties, and print and publication laws, and 4) correct economic policies by putting an end to privatization policies and enhancing social justice.