Jordan govt resigns, new PM expected to oversee elections

Jordan government resigned on Wednesday, one week after king Abdullah dissolved the parliament to pave the way for early elections, on hope of appeasing calls for reform, according to government sources. Jordan king Abdullah appointed liberal MP Abdullah Nessour as a prime minister hours after accepting resignation of Fayez Taranweh, who leaves office after a few months. Nessour will lead a government burdened with political and economic challenges including upcoming elections boycotted by the opposition and an economy struggling under shadow of the Arab spring, according to an official statement. The government resignation comes in line with recent constitutional amendments that force the government to leave office within a week of dissolving the parliament. The constitutional reform was approved by the pro-west king Abdullah earlier this year as part of political reform measures in answer to wide calls for sweeping reforms. Nessour, a former minister and MP is expected to name his cabinet in the coming days and would be faced with tough decisions including decisions by the former government to lift subsidies on major commodities. Analysts described appointment of Nessour as a change in policy of the king, who until recently, depended on technocrats and conservative figures from era of his father, the late king Hussein. Jordan has been embroiled by wide street protests, lead by the Islamist movement, as the opposition calls for trimming king Abdullah power to allow more pubic participation in decision making. The parliament elections are expected to be held at the start of 2013 as the government and palace hope high figures of turn over would give the polls more legitimacy after the influential Islamist movement described the polls as unpopular. The opposition parties have declared they will boycott the upcoming parliament elections in protest against the elections law and slow reform and control of security agencies in the government affairs.