Parliamentary Life from 1984 to Present
Following a period of interruption in parliamentary life in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan since 1974 and driven by the royal concern of His Majesty the late King Hussein bin Talal, His Majesty called for a return to parliamentary life on January 19, 1984. This was to affirm the stability of the constitutional environment and the consolidation of parliamentary traditions, with a belief in establishing and maintaining democratic principles and highlighting the fundamental concepts of democratic governance. Consequently, the National Advisory Council was dissolved, and the Ninth House of Representatives was convened for an extraordinary session without new elections to amend Article 73, Paragraph 4, of the Constitution.
Thus, the convened council became known as the Tenth House of Representatives after conducting by-elections in the eastern region and filling the vacant seats in the western region by the representatives themselves. This council continued its work for an additional two years from October 22, 1987, to January 17, 1988.
The Arab Summit in Algeria in 1988 had a significant impact on the course of parliamentary life in the Kingdom. The decision to sever the legal and administrative ties between the two banks of the Jordan River, which resulted in the House of Representatives representing only the eastern bank, was due to the strong insistence of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) on severing these ties. Despite Jordan's efforts to prevent the fragmentation of unity, these efforts failed, and the organization’s request for approval to sever the ties between the eastern and western banks was granted by most participating Arab countries.
Upon returning from the conference, Jordan issued a decision at the end of July 1988 to sever the ties between the two banks while retaining the Hashemite custodianship over the holy places in Jerusalem. Consequently, the government began the process of returning to parliamentary life without representing the western bank.
The Eleventh House of Representatives was elected according to the Election Law (22) of 1986 and its amendments of 1989, which abolished the seats for the western bank. Thus, the first parliamentary elections for the eastern bank only (since 1950 without members from the western bank) were held. Jordan was divided into twenty electoral districts, and the number of seats in the House of Representatives became 80, compared to 40 members in the Senate.
Since the promulgation of the Constitution on February 1, 1947, which assigned legislative authority to the King and the Parliament of Jordan, adopting a bicameral system, the Parliament of Jordan is divided into:
The Senate
Thirty Senates have been formed since the adoption of the bicameral system in 1947. For more details about previous Senates, please visit the dedicated page for the Senate.
The House of Representatives
Twenty Houses of Representatives have been formed so far. For more details about previous Houses of Representatives, please visit the House of Representatives' official website