Jordan faces three strategic challenges

We will compete with the Islamists chivalrously and honorably in the upcoming elections

The Islamists must read the political scene accurately and stop doubting

The erosion of the two-state solution is a threat to Jordanian interests

The reforms we have undertaken in Jordan are historic

The constitutional amendments fortify democracy and do not increase the king’s powers

Dr. Muhammad al-Momani denied in an interview with Radio Al-Balad that his newly-formed National Charter Party (Al-Mithaq Al-Watani) was a “state-run party” or a “tool” in the hands of the authorities for confronting the Islamists.

Al-Momani also denied that the coming parliamentary elections have been “engineered,” stating that “we respect our brothers in the Islamic Action Front, and we respect their proposals. We will compete with them chivalrously and honorably in the elections.” He called for Islamists to “enter the political scene with the spirit of participation and stop doubting.”

The Jordanian senator has held several government positions, including Chairman of the National Guidance Committee, member of the Arab, International, and Expatriate Affairs Committee, former Minister of Information and Government Communications, former Minister of Political and Parliamentary Affairs, and member of the Royal Committee for Political Modernization.

Regarding the Jordanian diplomatic outreach to Syria, he said that “what happened [in Syria] is a page that must be turned. Syria must return to the status quo, and the Syrian people must have security and stability returned to them. They deserve to live in dignity.”

Below are selected portions of Al-Momani’s interview with Radio Al-Balad:

Today we see new Jordanian parties being formed. How do you read the situation?

Jordanian parties have gotten to the stage of rectifying their status, and some have entered a stage of reformation. The deadline expires on May 14, and I expect that the number of parties will reach around 10 or 15, split between currents on the left, right, and center. Although there were around 46 parties in the past, this number is not the benchmark that we must look to. Rather, we must look to the upcoming elections that will produce parties with a strong presence on the national scene, and parties that will not be able to cross the electoral threshold, which is 2.5% of national votes. This is a great challenge.

Is the Al-Mithaq Party the state’s party for opposing the Islamists?

The Al-Mithaq Party is based on a set of basic principles that reflect the true political nature of Jordanian society. We are a moderate, program-based, reformist, conservative party, meaning that we have a conservative economic, political, and social agenda. So we believe in reform and gradual, calculated development. We do not want leaps through the air. We in Al-Mithaq want to change the Jordanian electoral scene, where people used to vote on a factional and individual basis. We want the elections to be based on [party] programs.

We are also socially conservative. We believe in family values and the value of religion in society. We believe in personal freedoms that are disciplined, under the banner of society.

As a final point, it’s fine for ideological parties to [emerge from] an intellectual forge, but if you can’t translate that into a realistic program, it’s not fair to the people who elected you. This is the new form of parties in Jordan. It’s not acceptable to continue to elections on an ideological basis, whether right-wing religious or left-wing.

We in Al-Mithaq are not the state’s party. We do not claim this honor. The state’s interest is to have an effective party-based [political] life. Therefore, all parties on the right, the center, and the left are in the interests of the state. But are we a tool or a party for the state to confront any other current? The answer is no.

We will compete honorably. We respect our brothers in the Islamic Action Front, and we respect their proposals. We will compete with them chivalrously and honorably in the elections. We will come forward to citizens and tell them, “this is what separates us from the Islamic Action Front.” If citizens see something that address their aspirations, they will elect us.

But looking at the composition of the Al-Mithaq Party, we see a number of former and current officials and VIPs.

There’s nothing wrong with that for us! On the contrary, we were able to attract this number of representatives and VIPs and former ministers. That’s a mark for us and not a mark against us. Furthermore, these officials are not a majority in the party. The party has reached about 5,700 members, the majority of whom are members of Jordanian society — including academics, artists, workers, and mayors — spread across the different economic sectors and professions of the Kingdom.

We have two former ministers in a 25-member Political Bureau, and 22 assistant secretary-generals [in the party] from different sectors. The Political Bureau decides by a democratic vote. There are 126 members on a Central Committee that oversees us. They come from 18 electoral districts, with 7 members per district, and the Political Bureau comes from there.

What is your vision for solving Jordan’s economic problems, such as poverty and unemployment?

We have a vision and an economic program. The program will be built from the bottom up, with details that will be announced at the proper time, since there is competition between the parties. No party announces its program before the elections and burns all its cards.

But the vision exists. We believe there are three strategic challenges facing Jordan. The first challenge is the economic malaise. Its aspects are 23% unemployment, poverty, and external debt. These are challenges that are coming close to affecting [national] stability. We must stop them here. We are a country with 23% unemployment and half a million well-paid foreign workers at the same time. This is a problem. The solutions are within our power. In our estimation, the solutions have to do with education, vocational training, social security, and health insurance.

Jordan has persevered in the face of economic challenges because of institutionalism, as opposed to states that fell because of [the challenges] and because of the Arab Spring. We know that we have strong elements that need investment.

The second challenge is the erosion of the two-state solution. That worries us, and we consider it a strategic threat. Its existence is linked to the strategic interests of the Jordanian state and it is very important for Jordanian national identity. The third challenge is the trust gap between the institutions and the people, and false and misleading news campaigns.

Are we serious about political reform in Jordan? Aren’t there suspicions that the upcoming elections will be engineered after new parties emerge?

Everything that the opposition demanded, it got. I told my opposition colleagues, when we were on the Royal Commission for Political Modernization, and when they wanted to resign — everything you’ve been asking for since 1993, you just got it in three months. They were asking for [elections based on] national-level party lists. The opposition got the [electoral] threshold, and they got a closed list. What we have done in terms of reforms has been extremely important and a historic achievement.

Our brothers in the Islamic Action Front must read the political situation accurately, seize the moment, enter the political scene with the spirit of participation, and stop doubting. Because the spirit of participation will bring them closer to having influence in the elections.

Will there come a day when we witness governments in Jordan chosen by parliament?

I think so. Choosing the prime minister is a prerogative of His Majesty the King, but Parliament gives him confidence. When there is a parliamentary majority or a parliamentary coalition that can form a government — and I think we are close to one — His Majesty the King wants that for his country. I am completely convinced of that, because it is in the country’s interests.

There is suspicion from elements in the state about parliamentary government. Was the constitution amended for that reason?

The constitutional amendments are a fortification of democracy, through constitutional guarantees against dysfunction. For example, we made it so that the selection of religious judges, oversight institutions, the army and security forces, and the royal court rely on the signature of the king alone. We do not want a left-wing party, for example, to appoint the Grand Mufti of the Kingdom. And we do not want an extremist right-wing party, for example, to appoint the Mutfi. This is a fortification and not a weakening of future governments’ powers.

Despite modernization, there have been arrests of political activists. What is the party’s position on that?

Arrests over beliefs are unacceptable. No one would support that. But there are many arrests that are not arrests over opinions if you get into the details. For example, when people were protesting the Jordanian-Emirati-Israeli agreement, no one was arrested for their position, as many people criticized this agreement. But there are those who offended an Arab country, which harms Jordan’s interests. All cases of arrests should be scrutinized.

Sectors such as education, healthcare, and transportation in Jordan are declining. Who is responsible?

There are several reasons, including the existence of weak officials who believe that their role is just to sign off on letters. This is the worst type of official, the official who does not realize that the decisions he takes reflect onto the people. These are the weakest officials. One example is the truckers’ strike in the south, where the responsible authorities failed from the beginning, and exacerbated the problem.

With the presence of program-based parties, the picture will be different. Whoever handles the agricultural, transportation, or water file in the parties may one day be in a position of using all his experience to make decisions — as opposed to what happens now, where we appoint a minister only to discover after a few months that he is weak.

Moving on to the Palestinian issue, what is the way out from under the shadow of an extremist [Israeli] government?

The way out is for us to keep employing our political, legal, and diplomatic mechanisms to confront what is happening. We succeed with those mechanisms. Maybe it’s a blessing in disguise. The bad actions of this extremist government have set in motion the good that has been discussed for decades. Sympathy with Israel has retreated in an unprecedented way. Even Biden, the U.S. president, has condemned Netanyahu.

As a final point, the rise of the Israeli left after its disappearance beginning in the year 2000 will restore balance to the Israeli political scene. The extreme right has controlled Israel for twenty years.

What is your opinion on the economic agreements with the [Israeli] Occupation, such as the gas deal?

As long as these agreements achieve the interests of the state, we are with them. If they do not achieve this, we are against them. That is our standard in judging them.

Let’s conclude with the Syrian issue. Will Jordan’s initiative succeed at achieving a peaceful solution in Syria?

I’ve listened to the foreign minister at meetings. We talk to the Syrians. We tell them, “help us help you.” We have an interest, as Jordan and as the Arab ummah, in returning Syria to the Arab fold. What happened is a page that must be turned. Syria must return to the status quo, and the Syrian people must have security and stability returned to them. They deserve to live in dignity.

We in Jordan are affected. But there has been a Jordanian success. When we used to talk about the [consequences of U.S. sanctions under] the Caesar Act, it was a red line for the international community, which no one wanted to talk about. Now they are listening to the fact that this law does not produce results, and instead moves Syria in directions that are not positive, towards Iran, with the Arabs standing far away. Today there is a response and a discussion. Progress on this file depends on the Syrian regime taking positive steps on the refugee file. Their status should be made more clear by granting a general amnesty and allowing them to return. Also, there must be a security balance, more internal reforms in Syria, a lack of permission for militias to threaten the security of the region from Syrian soil, and a crackdown on drug and arms trafficking. These are steps that can take us in a positive direction, which will be accepted by the international community.