It took Jordan’s two-chamber parliament about two weeks to overwhelmingly approve a number of constitutional amendments that the government had hastily presented on April 18. On May 2, the upper house of parliament adopted the amendments a week after the lower house had done the same.
In contrast to the amendments that were recommended by a special royal committee in September 2011, in the midst of the Arab Spring, this time there was no public debate. And while the 2011 amendments — which affected one third of the constitution and limited the king’s constitutional powers to postpone elections, dissolve the lower house indefinitely, keep a government in office or re-appoint a prime minister — were seen by the public as enhancing political reforms and underlining the kingdom’s status as a constitutional monarchy, the latest installment of alterations triggered controversy.