Amman - Jordan's King Abdullah II has named Marouf Bakhit as the new Prime Minister after the resignation of Samir Rifai on Tuesday, the state-run news agency Petra reported.
Born in 1947, Bakhit joined the Jordanian Armed Forces in 1964 and retired in 1999 as a major general. He once served as the ambassador to Turkey and Israel, the head of National Security and the acting director of the king's office.
Bakhit served as Jordan's prime minister from 2005 to 2007.
In the letter of appointment, Abdullah II urged the new government to take "swift and tangible steps to embark on genuine political reform process," to entrench democracy, and to push forward the comprehensive development process, stressing the importance of focusing on economic reforms.
The king said the desired objectives for economic reforms would not be realised without political reforms that increase the participation of Jordanians in the decision-making process.
Abdullah II urged Bakhit to come up with a mechanism for comprehensive national dialogue with all the classes in the society, as well as a new modern election law to help speed up the political process.
After weeks of protests by Jordanians calling on the government to step down, Rifai, who was named as the prime minister in 2009, submitted his resignation to the king earlier Tuesday.
