ammonnews.net

Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - The Lower House of Parliament on Wednesday decided to postpone deliberating on a memo aimed to bring a motion to retract confidence in the government of Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour.

73 out of 100 MPs voted in favor of postponing the deliberations.

The House voted on postponing the deliberations based on recommendations from MP Mustafa Amawi, who stressed the need to postpone considering the memo to give a no-confidence vote, citing that the proponents of the memo have not yet met to consider the motion.

MP Mahmoud Kharabsheh however criticized the decision to postpone the vote, citing that the request to stall the vote came from the government itself.

Lawmakers had voiced recommendations to motion a no-confidence vote several times during the current extra-ordinary session, including earlier in July as a result of repeated government ministers' absence from Lower House session on "Crucial laws," such as the temporary Social Security Law.

A memo signed by more than 10 deputies in mid July called for holding a new vote of confidence in the government aimed to prevent the government from taking further decisions to increase prices (particularly in reference to recent government decisions to raise electricity tariffs and double the taxes on mobile phones and subscriptions).

Earlier in May, 87 MPs signed a no-confidence motion against the government, citing government's lack of action in implementing the House's consensus decision earlier to expel the Israeli Ambassador from Jordan and recall Jordan's Ambassador in Tel Aviv over escalating Israeli violations in occupied Jerusalem.

PM Abdullah Ensour's government won the House's confidence on April 23, 2013, with 82 MPs voting in favor of the confidence vote, while 66 gave a no-confidence vote, out of a total of 148 present deputies.

House Speaker Saad Hayel Srour had abstained from voting, and one MP was absent.

The government needed 76 votes to win confidence from parliament, in accordance with the law that stipulate a confidence vote of half of the House members plus one, out of a total of 150 MPs.

King Abdullah II re-appointed Ensour for a second term, and his "slim" 19-member cabinet was sworn in on March 30, 2013.