2013
Jordan Parliamentary Elections
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PRE-ELECTION ENVIRONMENT
Voter Reg istration
The two government institutions that assumed the majority of the responsibility for voter
registration were the CSPD and the Ministry of Interior. Under the supervision of the Ministry of
Interior, the CSPD has 73 offices across Jordan and manages records for all the country’s citizens.
During the voter registration process, the CSPD was responsible for issuing election cards to voters.
Predictably, its affiliation with the Ministry of Interior led some to question the integrity of the voter
registration process. Many felt that the IEC should have taken full ownership of the process to
increase public trust. In addition, the IEC’s decision to employ additional staff from the Ministry of
Interior further raised concerns. The rushed timetable, though, left the IEC in need of the CSPD
and Ministry of Interior for institutional support, and with few other options.
A central objective of the election law was the creation of a new and more reliable national voter list.
Past election fraud was, in many cases, tied to manipulation of loopholes in the voter lists. Such
fraudulent practices included multiple voting by individuals at different polling stations. The
registration process, initially intended to run for one month, was extended twice by the IEC,
eventually running from August 7, 2012 through October 15, 2012. The list compiled in the run-up
to the upcoming elections replaced previous versions and will hopefully serve as basis for the
administration of future elections.
At the end of this process, the IEC stated that the total number of registered voters was 2.27 million
or 70 percent of eligible voters, but the number used by citizen election monitoring groups was
about 65 percent
IRI believes the IEC’s higher percentage may have been computed by excluding
certain voters, including out-of-country voters, from the number of eligible voters. Although there
are no provisions for absentee voting, including eligible voters living outside of Jordan, they remain
eligible nonetheless and should be included in voter registration statistics.
The election law included several stipulations that largely served to improve the voter registration
process and reduce the likelihood of fraud. Key regulations included:
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Voter cards were issued as proof that the holder was eligible to participate in the elections.
The voter cards replaced identity cards, which had been used in previous elections and
which had insufficient safeguards against forgery. Without an election card, featuring the
voter’s photo and basic information along with multiple fraud-proof markings, an eligible
voter was not be able to cast a ballot on Election Day.
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A citizen observation representative added that the IEC could have recruited staff from civil society instead of the
Ministry of Interior, but he said the IEC ultimately believed it did not have the time to recruit and train new staff. For
its part, the IEC felt public servants at the Ministry of Interior were trustworthy and competent.
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In IRI long-term observer meetings with RASED and the Integrity Coalition, both estimated that about 64-66 percent
of eligible voters registered. Thus, the estimated rate of registration varied depending on the sources ranging between
64-70 percent of eligible voters. The total number of registered voters was said by the IEC to be 2,272,182. The
number of eligible voters initially appeared to be 3,565,139, thus providing the basis for the lower estimates of RASED
and Integrity Coalition. The discrepancy appears to be a result of the IEC deducting out-of-country voters and perhaps
members of the military (who are not allowed to vote) from the total number, thus reducing the official number of
eligible voters to 3,242,857, rather than the larger initial number.
