Tarawneh: Jordan will continue reform

Jordan’s prime minister-designate Fayez Tarawneh on Sunday called for increasing parliamentary debate on the country's electoral law. Tarawneh said during a meeting with parliamentary blocs on Sunday: "The Jordanian Spring is green not red," in reference to peaceful reforms as opposed to a violent upsrising characteristic of the revolutions in Tunisia, Libya and Egypt. "Our task at this stage is not impossible," he said,  revealing his commitment to forming a government, transitional or otherwise. He added: "Jordan will continue reforming without fear. We still have economic problems -- I call them challenges -- and we must face them, especially the 5 million dinars expenditure on energy per day." The prime minister urged officials to expand dialogue between them concerning the electoral law, confirming his refusal to withdraw its draft which he considered the property of the parliament. He said: "The dialogue should not be limited to specific points of view. The parliament and deputies have the right to modify or accept the law." He added: "I have a certain philosophy that the dialogue must be national, inclusive of all political parties, and Jordanians have the full right to be consulted." Tarawneh explained that there was a constitutional referendum on the closed and partisan list. "If the deputies say something is not constitutional, it can be written off but that does not mean that the law is unconstitutional," he said. Jordan's ruling monarch King Abdullah II appointed Tarawneh on Thursday after accepting the resignation of Awn al-Khaswaneh, 62, an International Court of Justice judge who formed his cabinet last October to become the third premier of 2011. The monarch instructed Tarawneh to form a government for "a limited transitional period" to implement reforms needed to hold elections before the end of 2012. The king accused Khaswaneh of being too slow, telling him in a letter on Thursday that Jordan "cannot afford any delay in achieving the needed reform". Jordan has seen persistent Arab Spring-inspired demonstrations almost every week since January 2011, demanding sweeping reforms and a tougher fight against corruption.