Jordan's new PM urged to step down

Demonstrators hold signs asking for a representative parliament and reforms outside the prime minister's office in Amman, February 2, 2011

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/163326.html

Jordanian opposition parties say Marouf Bakhit, who has been newly appointed as prime minister, is not the right person for the job and must step down.

Jordan's King Abdullah II bowed to public pressure inspired by the revolt in Tunisia and Egypt and sacked Prime Minister Samir Rifai on Tuesday, appointing former ambassador to Israel, Marouf Bakhit, as the Arab country's new premier.

But the move was rejected by demonstrators who gathered on Wednesday outside the prime minister's office in Amman and vowed to continue demonstrations until their demands for fair parliamentary elections and other democratic and economic reforms are met.

"We think he is not the right man for conducting the required political reforms," the head of the Islamic Action Front (IAF) Political Department, Zaki Bani Ersheid, said.

"Bakhit is a security man, a former army general and ex-intelligence official. He doesn't believe in democracy and is not the right person for the job," the Associated Press quoted leader of the opposition Muslim Brotherhood, Hamza Mansour, as saying.

Mansour said Jordan needs a person who can tackle the country's serious “economic and political crisis.”

Bakhit is the wrong person who cannot introduce democratic reforms and tackle deepening poverty and unemployment, he noted.

The ongoing political crisis in Jordan comes as the Persian Gulf state is grappling with a soaring foreign debt estimated at $15 billion, an inflation rate that swelled by 1.5 percent to 6.1 percent in December and high unemployment and poverty rates, estimated at 12 and 25 percent respectively.