Government & politics — Jordan

• history: previous 1928 (preindependence); latest initially adopted 28 November 1947,
• revised and ratified 1 January 1952 amendments: constitutional amendments require at least a two-thirds majority vote of both the Senate and the House and ratification by the king; amended several times, last in 2022

• chief of state: King ABDALLAH II (since 7 February 1999); Heir Apparent Crown Prince HUSSEIN (eldest son of the monarch, born 28 June 1994);
• the monarchy is hereditary head of government: Prim
• e Minister Bisher AL-KHASAWNEH (since 7 October 2020) cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the monarch i
• n consultation with the prime minister elections/appointments: prime minister appointed by the monarch

Description

bicameral National Assembly or Majlis al-'Umma consists of: Senate or the House of Notables or Majlis al-Ayan (65 seats; members appointed by the monarch to serve 4-year terms) Chamber of Deputies or House of Representatives or Majlis al-Nuwaab (130 seats; 115 members directly elected in 23 multi-seat constituencies by open-list proportional representation vote and 15 seats for women; 12 of the 115 seats reserved for Christian, Chechen, and Circassian candidates; members serve 4-year terms)

Elections

Senate - last appointments on 27 Sep 2020 (next to be held in 2024) Chamber of Deputies - last held on 10 November 2020 (next anticipated in November 2024)

Election Results

2020: Senate - composition men 58, women 7, percent of women 10.8% 2020: Chamber of Deputies;

Note

• tribal, centrist, and pro-government candidates dominated the election
• the Islamic Action Front, the political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood, garnered only 10 seats, down from 15 in the previous election
• women, who are guaranteed 15 seats by Jordan’s legislative quota system, won 16 seats, down from 20 seats won in the previous election;

Composition

men 114, women 16, percent of women 12.3%;

Note

total National Assembly percent of women 11.8%

Note

in 2022, a new electoral law - effective for the anticipated 2024 election - will increase the total number of Chamber of Deputies' seats to 138 from 130; 97 members to be directly elected from multi-seat geographic districts by open list proportional representation vote, with over 7 percent of total votes needed to gain a seat, and 41 members to be directly elected from a single national district by closed party-list proportional representation vote, with over a 2.5 percent of total votes needed to gain a seat

• highest court(s): Court of Cassation or Supreme Court (consists of 15 members, including the chief justice); Constitutional Cou
• rt (consists of 9 members) judge selection and term of office: Supreme Court chief justice appointed by the king; other judges nominated by the Judicial Council, an 11-member judicial policymaking body consisting of high-level judicial officials and judges, and approved by the king; judge tenure not limited; Constitutional Court members appointed by the king for 6-year non-renewable terms with one-thi
• rd of the membership renewed every 2 years subordinate courts: Courts of Appeal; Great Felonies Court; religious courts; military courts; juvenile courts; Land Settlement Courts; Income Tax Court; Higher Administrative Court; Customs Court; special courts including the State Security Court

• political reforms enacted in 2020 require all existing parties to re-register by May 2023, which will result in changes to the number of registered parties and the number of seats held by those parties for the anticipated 2024 election

• no citizenship by descent only: the f
• yes residency requirement for naturalization: 15 years

ABEDA, AFESD, AMF, CAEU, CD, CICA, EBRD, FAO, G-11, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC (national committees), ICCt, ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, IMSO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, ITUC (NGOs), LAS, MIGA, MINUSTAH, MONUSCO, NAM, NATO (partner), OIC, OPCW, OSCE (partner), PCA, UN, UNAMID, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNISFA, UNMIL, UNMISS, UNOCI, UNOOSA, UNRWA, UNWTO, UPU, WCO, WFTU (NGOs), WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO

chief of mission

Ambassador Yael LEMPERT (since 3 September 2023) embassy: Abdoun, Al-Umawyeen St., Amman mailing address: 6050 Amman Place, Washington DC 20521-6050

telephone

[962] (6) 590-6000

FAX

[962] (6) 592-0163

Email address and website

• Amman-ACS@state.gov
• https://jo.usembassy.gov/

chief of mission

Ambassador Dina Khalil Tawfiq KAWAR (since 27 June 2016)

chancery

3504 International Drive NW, Washington, DC 20008

telephone

[1] (202) 966-2664

FAX

[1] (202) 966-3110

Email address and website

• hkjconsular@jordanembassyus.org
• http://www.jordanembassyus.org/