AMMAN // King Abdullah will, for the first time, consult parliament while picking a government after tomorrow's election in Jordan, the prime minister, Abdullah Ensour, said yesterday.
He called it "dramatic progress" toward democracy.
Mr Ensour said the vote, boycotted by the main Muslim Brotherhood-linked opposition party, would reflect "major changes that the political system in Jordan has undergone towards greater openness and democratisation" since pro-democracy protests began sweeping the Arab world two years ago.
The king last year endorsed constitutional changes devolving some of his prerogatives to parliament, which critics said had become sidelined, and restoring to the government some executive powers that had shifted to the palace and security forces.
"This is dramatic progress and what the king has done voluntarily is what the opposition had demanded," said Mr Ensour. "Any government will now be formed by the joint will of his majesty and parliament."
Islamists and some tribal opposition figures have staged protests calling for the king to give up his power to name governments, and criticising last year's constitutional changes as falling short of their demands.
Unlike some Arab nations, Jordan has not seen mass protests calling for the overthrow of the ruling system. However, emboldened activists have complained openly about corruption.
Under pressure to accelerate political reform, the king appointed Mr Ensour, a veteran politician, in October to oversee an election after dissolving the tribally dominated parliament mid term.
But the outgoing 150-strong assembly resisted changes in the electoral law that would have reduced tribal influence, prompting the boycott by Islamists who said the old law favoured rural regions that depend on state patronage, and which form the backbone of support for the Hashemite monarchy.
The boycott has reduced the vote to a contest between tribal leaders, establishment figures and independent businessmen, with just a few of the 1,450 candidates running for recognised parties.
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Email sent to Uber team from chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi
From: Dara
To: Team@
Date: March 25, 2019 at 11:45pm PT
Subj: Accelerating in the Middle East
Five years ago, Uber launched in the Middle East. It was the start of an incredible journey, with millions of riders and drivers finding new ways to move and work in a dynamic region that’s become so important to Uber. Now Pakistan is one of our fastest-growing markets in the world, women are driving with Uber across Saudi Arabia, and we chose Cairo to launch our first Uber Bus product late last year.
Today we are taking the next step in this journey—well, it’s more like a leap, and a big one: in a few minutes, we’ll announce that we’ve agreed to acquire Careem. Importantly, we intend to operate Careem independently, under the leadership of co-founder and current CEO Mudassir Sheikha. I’ve gotten to know both co-founders, Mudassir and Magnus Olsson, and what they have built is truly extraordinary. They are first-class entrepreneurs who share our platform vision and, like us, have launched a wide range of products—from digital payments to food delivery—to serve consumers.
I expect many of you will ask how we arrived at this structure, meaning allowing Careem to maintain an independent brand and operate separately. After careful consideration, we decided that this framework has the advantage of letting us build new products and try new ideas across not one, but two, strong brands, with strong operators within each. Over time, by integrating parts of our networks, we can operate more efficiently, achieve even lower wait times, expand new products like high-capacity vehicles and payments, and quicken the already remarkable pace of innovation in the region.
This acquisition is subject to regulatory approval in various countries, which we don’t expect before Q1 2020. Until then, nothing changes. And since both companies will continue to largely operate separately after the acquisition, very little will change in either teams’ day-to-day operations post-close. Today’s news is a testament to the incredible business our team has worked so hard to build.
It’s a great day for the Middle East, for the region’s thriving tech sector, for Careem, and for Uber.
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