Jordan PM to announce new government amid criticism

Ordinary Jordanians resent Ensour for rising fuel prices in his last term A new Jordanian government is expected to be sworn in on Saturday, ahead of Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour’s announcement of who he has selected for state ministerial positions .A number of MPs who will serve in the new government have already been nominated, according to parliamentary sources.
Reem Badran, Nedal Katamen and Nayef el-Fayez are all expected to join Ensour’s cabinet on Saturday.
One woman, as yet unnamed, will also be appointed, sources said.
Foreign Minister Nasser Goda would meanwhile be left off the list, instead representing Jordan as ambassador to Washington.
The news marks the first time Jordan has formed a government through consultations with parliamentary blocs, following calls made by King Abdullah II in an October speech to parliament.
Ensour’s new parliament will preside over a four-year term.
Observers have predicted a smaller list of 18 ministers tasked with regulating national expenditure and easing recent conflicts within parliament, which have occasionally broken into all-out violence.
However, ordinary Jordanians have resisted the new prime minister’s appointment, after his last government raised prices and oil derivatives.
Ensour also faces stiff criticism from the country’s burgeoning Islamist movement.