King:We will continue to work to strengthen the nation as source of power

Amman, Feb.10(Petra)– His Majesty King Abdullah II said that " We have worked, and we will continue to work, with unrelenting determination to strengthen the nation as source of power and partner in decision-making, out of our commitment to serving the interests of our people."

In his speech from the Throne in which he opened the 17th Parliament Non-ordinary session, the King highlighted the historic responsibilities of deputies and senators in representing all Jordanians, being accountable to citizens, and carrying out their monitoring and legislative duties. "You are also expected to shoulder your responsibility towards the success of this historic transformation towards parliamentary government and its development", the king added.

"After we have held parliamentary elections in a fair and transparent manner and in accordance with international best practices, we call for a new approach. We will start as part of this new approach with consultations over the government’s formation with the Lower House and parliamentary blocs as they take shape, in order to reach consensus that leads to the designation of a prime minister, who, in turn, will enter into consultations with the parliamentary blocs and other political forces as he selects his ministerial team. He will then seek the Lower House’s confidence based on a policy statement resulting from the consultation process, and on four-year programmes" His Majesty further said.

King Abdullah emphasised that the development of the consultation mechanism hinges on the development of partisan and parliamentary work, which leads to the emergence of a majority parliamentary coalition on partisan basis." The government would emerge from such coalition, while an opposition parliamentary coalition would take shape to monitor the majority and serve as shadow government", he said.

His Majesty stressed the need to achieve parliamentary and governmental stability, so that Parliament and government can carry out their work in a positive atmosphere over a full four-year term, as long as the government maintains the confidence of the Lower House, and the Lower House maintains the confidence of the people.

The King called for a new bottom-up approach to government work based on building strategies and action plans in consultation with the grassroots. "The government should exercise transparency and openness and make available all necessary information when it presents to the people and their representatives budgets, projects, implementation stages and progress reports. Governments should be judged and held accountable on the basis of all of the above," he said.

"This requires continuous improvement in the efficiency and quality of government services, which should be accessible to all citizens. It also requires that government agencies commit to institutionalised work to achieve the highest degree of efficiency and transparency in the selection of secretaries general and general managers and to ensure the success of government plans. This means that the government should take the initiative and launch a white revolution to advance performance in line with a declared plan with specific goals."

Following is the full text of the King’s Speech from the Throne:

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