2013
Jordan Parliamentary Elections
51
and national list registrations, issuing preprinted ballots, and administering a transparent Election
Day process. The IEC should also be commended for hosting more than 150 international election
observers in a manner consistent with the
and for facilitating their work and the of work of a robust contingent of citizen
observers throughout the country.
As noted i
report, one area for improvement for the IEC to address
is the voter registration process. While the registration process led to a more accurate voter list,
group registration, allowed under the law, lends itself to fraud or to some individuals being
registered against their will.
A positive attribute of the 2013 elections was a more open environment for campaigning and public
discourse that helped remove previous taboos on being politically active and speaking one’s mind.
Throughout the election process, candidates and citizens were allowed the space to discuss aspects
of government and public life that were previously off limits. IRI also commends the IEC for the
provision of one-minute of free air time on national television to all registered candidates and lists.
This provided candidates with greater opportunity to present themselves to voters.
Another important step taken by Jordanian authorities was improved enforcement of laws pertaining
to alleged vote buying and other influence peddling around elections with notable arrests of
candidates and agents accused of using money or gifts to illegally influence the process.
Nonetheless, IRI’s delegation heard numerous allegations of vote buying on Election Day that were
not limited to one region. For Jordanians to recognize a sustained and impartial commitment to
stopping the practice of vote buying, current cases must be fully adjudicated through a due process
and laws must be enforced equally for all groups.
In addition, in future elections, Jordan should strengthen rules regulating the conduct of candidate
agents inside and around polling centers. Enforcement of rules against Election Day campaigning
outside polling centers must also be significantly improved upon, or the law amended, before the
next election, as IRI’s delegation witnessed campaigning in violation of the current law outside the
majority of polling centers visited. An improved definition of campaigning under the current law
may be another way to address this shortcoming. Improved candidate and party financial disclosure
regulations would additionally contribute to building greater voter awareness in future elections.
With regard to the electoral framework – the dominant SNTV system – tribal allegiances continue to
be the major factor in candidate selection and campaigning, with personality trumping platforms.
The introduction of national proportional list seats may begin to address this challenge, but the
number of seats elected by national list should be increased if a meaningful change in parliament’s
composition is to be realized. Likewise, national lists would have had a greater impact on
encouraging political party participation if competition on lists had been limited to political parties.
Notwithstanding a more free campaign environment, these factors, plus a rushed election schedule,
left little time for voters to make informed choices and did not result in competition based on party
or list platform.
With respect to women’s representation, the new electoral law did not increase the percentage of
women in the national parliament. In addition, Jordan’s system of allocating seats to women re-
enforces the same inequities between rural and urban districts seen in other areas of the electoral
