2013
Jordan Parliamentary Elections
10
I
NTRODUCTION
Jordan’s January 23, 2013 parliamentary elections were largely a referendum on the King’s efforts
toward reform. The King’s supporters argued that gradual reform was best for the country while his
detractors countered that a strong boycott movement would signal dissatisfaction with the pace of
reform and force more drastic changes to the new election law and the constitution. For the
international community, these elections were the first to be held in the country since the Arab
Spring, a barometer that would show whether a small, relatively moderate kingdom, surrounded by
chaos, was weathering the monumental change in the region through gradual, managed reform.
Faced with a history of flawed elections and public frustration with democratic processes and the
general direction of the country, King Abdullah II called for comprehensive reform in the spring of
2011. The capstone of the ensuing reform process, the new election law, however, was
controversial in its failure to address many of the shortfalls of the previous law, despite
recommendations to improve them by the royally-appointed NDC. Procedurally, however, the
introduction of the IEC was a significant step forward, particularly given what it was able to
accomplish in the brief amount of time between being established on June 19, 2012, and the January
23, 2013 elections.
Three citizen observer groups were accredited by the IEC to monitor the elections, namely, the Civil
Coalition for Monitoring the Jordanian Parliamentary Elections (RASED), the Integrity Coalition
for Election Observation and the National Council for Human Rights. Together, these groups
deployed more than 500 long-term observers to monitor the pre-election period and nearly 7,000
observers on Election Day, the most robust observation effort in Jordan’s history. The efforts of
these civil society organizations were critical to enhancing the overall legitimacy of the electoral
process. They monitored and provided written assessments of all critical stages of the election
process, from voter registration to candidate registration, to Election Day and adjudication of
complaints. Their work attested to the capacity within Jordanian civil society to hold the electoral
authorities accountable as well as to the IEC’s willingness to break new ground by being transparent,
responsive and communicative about a process that had hitherto been closed and prone to
manipulation.
Five international groups observed the elections. In addition to IRI, the National Democratic
Institute, the European Union, the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation sent
teams of observers. In total, these groups included more than 40 long-term observers and close to
200 short-term observers. Their work, like the work of citizen monitoring groups, was facilitated by
a cooperative and open IEC.
The 2013 parliamentary elections marked the first time that IRI’s delegation served as fully
accredited election observers in Jordan after having the status of election witnesses in 2010. IRI
agreed to participate in this role at the invitation of the IEC, which requested that international
organizations be critical and offer constructive suggestions to improve future election
administration. In seeking to improve Jordan’s election systems, IRI commends the IEC for its
open and transparent approach in interacting with all observer groups during the election process.
To observe the elections IRI deployed three teams of long-term observers two months prior to
Election Day. Each covered one region of Jordan – north, center and south – to provide a longer-
