Parliament ordinary session to start on November 7

AMMAN — A Royal Decree was issued on Wednesday, postponing the first ordinary session of the two Chambers of Parliament to November 7, 2016, according to a Royal Court statement.

Under Article 78 of the Constitution, the King summons Parliament to an ordinary session on the first day of October, but the Monarch, by Royal Decree, has the authority to postpone the start "for a period not exceeding two months".

On Tuesday, a Royal Decree was issued dissolving the Senate as of September 27, while another listed the names of the 65 members of the Upper House, presided over by Faisal Fayez, who kept his title from the previous Senate.

In total, the makeup of the new Senate includes 47 figures that were not in the previous Chamber, while 18, including the president, retained their seats.

The line-up includes 10 women, up from eight in the previous Upper House.

The dissolution of the Senate was expected, in line with Article 63 of the Constitution which stipulates that the number of senators should be half the number of deputies in the Lower House or less.

The new Elections Law, under which the September 20 parliamentary polls were conducted, reduced the number of Lower House members from 150 to 130.

As for the 18th Lower House, it brought 74 first-time MPs and 56 former lawmakers to the Dome.

Among the former legislators, 39 kept their seats from the 17th Parliament and 17 had held seats in previous legislatures.

Women MPs represent 15 per cent of the 130-member House, as five female candidates won seats outside the 15-seat-quota. With 20 female MPs, the new Lower House has the highest number of women in Parliament’s history.