AMMAN, Jordan — Few Jordanian leaders came to power with greater support from Amman’s civil society than Prime Minister Omar Razzaz in June. He served on the board of the respected Amman-based Center for Defending Freedom of Journalists. Razzaz had called for a new social contract to advance government accountability and ensure “the rights of the electoral minority and of those with opposing views are safeguarded and not excluded or branded as treason.”
A popular education minister, Razzaz was applauded for combatting corporal punishment in schools despite the trend among some Jordanians to avoid discussing this sensitive issue. Therefore, Raed Wahbeh, chairman of Taqaddam, a progressive Jordanian platform advocating political change, told Al-Monitor that Razzaz’s appointment last summer was a “dream come true.”