Omar Razzaz appointed as Jordan’s Prime Minister

Omar Al Razzaz, the former Minister of Education in the Cabinet of Hani Mulki, will head Jordan’s new Cabinet, Petra news agency announced on Monday, less than a couple of hours after Mulki submitted his resignation.

Razzaz took office as Minister of Education in Jan. 2017 and since then he introduced a number of welcomed changes to the Tawjihi system, Jordan’s secondary examinations.

He holds a PhD in Planning with a minor in Economics from Harvard University and a Post doctorate from the Harvard Law School and he has previously held the position of Director-General of Jordan's Social Security Corporation.

He has also led the national team responsible for the preparation of the National Employment Strategy and held a key position at the World Bank.

Hani Mulki resigned after his economic policies that lifted bread subsidies and raised fuel and electricity prices received widespread criticism. The final straw for Jordanians was the recently proposed Income Tax Bill that increased the tax base and increased the rate for each tax bracket.

Ahead of Mulki’s resignation the Unions’ Council President, Ali Abous, asserted that the coming Wednesday will also witness a nationwide strike, adding that the protests targeted the bill not the government and even if the Cabinet was changed, demonstrations would continue until the bill was rescinded.

At the time, the bill was endorsed by Mulki’s Cabinet, Jordan’s Parliament had finished its ordinary session and had been prorogued.

Nevertheless, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Atef Tarawneh, relayed that 90 MPs had signed a memo declining to debate the Income Tax Bill in an extraordinary session.