2013
Jordan Parliamentary Elections
31
from continuing to bribe voters.
In addition, concerns were raised that those awaiting trial would
still be able to serve as parliamentarians and that charges could be dropped in the future. This
concern appears to be bearing out, as it is unlikely parliament will remove the immunity of these
members in order for them to be prosecuted.
IRI’s long-term observers concluded that vote buying pervaded the campaign period for two main
reasons: the economic situation and financial hardship currently felt by families propelled them to
seek out revenue in turn for their votes; and a lack of confidence on the part of citizens in the
elections to produce any meaningful change. The second reason can be broken down into citizens’
lack of trust in the institution of parliament and their perception of candidates as corrupt and self-
interested individuals with little interest in carrying through on campaign promises. According to
IRI observers, an area where these two reasons coincided in higher frequency was in and around
Palestinian refugee camps, where residents were known to already be distanced from the election
process and were generally less financially secure.
Widespread rumors about vote buying, eye-witness accounts by IRI observer
as well as the spate
of arrests lead to the conclusion that for many in Jordan, elections have been corrupted to the extent
that they are seen as a transactional event, where huge sums of money are wielded among
impoverished citizens who want their piece of the pie. It appears a good number of voters are
motivated by their desire to get what they can from the broken process by engaging candidates in a
bidding war for their votes.
It was widely believed that vote buying reduced the integrity of the national list system as well. This
was because some list representatives allegedly bribed influential figures within tribes in return for
them exerting pressure to have their entire tribe or family vote in favor of a particular list.
Candidates and citizens interviewed said that national lists, contrary to the aspiration that they would
help usher forth issue-based and citizen-directed platforms, instead became vehicles for self-seeking
personalities at the top of the lists. Thus, voters were more willing to sell their vote or adhere to
tribal advice on who to choose for the national list system. Underscoring this tendency was voters’
assumption that a candidate elected nationally could not assist them with local needs such as
employment, infrastructure and the provision of social services, thus eroding their faith in the
national list system.
vote-buying). All arrested candidate won seats, except for Ellyan. Soud’s trial was stopped in March because of his
parliamentary immunity.
34
International Republican Institute Poll.
Jordan Post-Election Public Opinion Survey
. 4-7 March, 2013. p. 17.
35
In one instance, IRI long-term observers were actually offered money for their votes. In a separate incident in
Madaba, IRI observers visited a DEC the day before the election and witnessed the DEC chairman handing out large
sums of money without any receipts or other accounting procedures to record the disbursements. Once the observers
began to take pictures of the practice, the chairman stopped. While the motives are not confirmed as vote buying, the
lack of accounting procedures is cause for concern.
