Jordan - Election 2003
The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is a constitutional monarchy ruled by King Abdullah II bin Hussein. The Constitution concentrates executive and legislative authority in the King. A regent, whose authority is outlined in the Constitution, assumes many responsibilities in the King's absence. The King appoints the Prime Minister and other members of the Cabinet who manage the daily affairs of the Government. The Parliament consists of the 55-member Senate, appointed by the King, and a 110-member elected lower house, the Chamber of Deputies.
After being appointed by the King, a prime minister is required to submit his cabinet to a parliamentary vote of confidence, if there is a seated parliament. In practice, Parliament routinely grants its confidence. Executive power is vested in the King (or, in his absence, in the Regent), who exercises his power through his ministers in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution. In October, the King accepted the prime minister's resignation and named a new 21-member cabinet, including 9 first-time ministers, 3 of whom were women.
In 2001 the King dissolved Parliament and elections were not held until June. In February, an amendment to the election law increased the size of the lower house from 80 seats to 110. The June parliamentary and July municipal elections were generally free and fair; however, the election law significantly under-represented urban areas. In October, the King accepted the resignation of the Prime Minister, appointed a new Prime Minister, swore in a new 21-member Cabinet and, in November, appointed a new 55-member Senate. The Constitution provides for an independent judiciary; however, in practice, it remained susceptible to political pressure and interference by the executive.
Citizens did not have the right to change their government. Citizens may participate in the political system through their elected representatives to Parliament; however, the King has discretionary authority to appoint and dismiss the Prime Minister, Cabinet, and upper house of Parliament, to dissolve Parliament, and to establish public policy. Reported continuing abuses included police abuse and mistreatment of detainees, allegations of torture, arbitrary arrest and detention, lack of transparent investigations and of accountability within the security services, denial of due process of law stemming from the expanded authority of the State Security Court and interference in the judicial process, infringements on citizens' privacy rights, harassment of members of opposition political parties, and significant restrictions on freedom of speech, press, assembly, and association. The Government imposes some limits on freedom of religion, and there was official and societal discrimination against adherents of unrecognized religions. There were some restrictions on freedom of movement. Violence against women, restrictions on women's rights, and societal discrimination against women persisted. "Honor" crimes continued. Child abuse remained a problem, and discrimination against Palestinians persisted.
The law allows voters to choose only one candidate in multiple-seat districts. In the largely tribal society, citizens tend to cast their first vote for family members, and any additional votes in accordance with their political leanings. Observers believed that the law continues to give greater proportional representation to electorates in the rural and southern part of the country as well as in regions with populations known for their traditional, pro-Hashemite views, and to result in significant under-representation of urban areas. In practice, the chances of non-tribal candidates, including women, Islamists, and other opposition candidates, to be elected were limited.
The 2001 election law increased the number of electoral districts by redrawing district boundaries and redistributing seats among districts, required verification of polling results by members of the Judiciary, and lowered the voting age to 18 years. A February amendment included a six-seat quota for women in the House of Deputies. Citizens may freely nominate themselves and register as candidates as long as they do not have a criminal history.
The King proposes and dismisses extraordinary sessions of Parliament, and may postpone regular sessions for up to 60 days. If the Government amends or enacts a law when Parliament is not in session, it must submit the law to Parliament for consideration during the next session; however, such "provisional" laws do not expire and, while technically subject to action by Parliament when it returns to session, may in practice remain in force without legislative approval.
The Parliament is composed of a 55-member Senate appointed by the King, and a popularly elected 110-member Chamber of Deputies. The Constitution provides authority to the Parliament to initiate legislation, and to approve, reject, or amend legislation proposed by the Cabinet. A group of 10 senators or deputies may submit draft bills for consideration; however, in practice legislation is initiated and drafted by the Cabinet of Ministers and submitted by the Government to Parliament for consideration.
When Jordan held parliamentary elections in June of 2003, independent candidates allied with the monarchy won most of the seats. The parliamentary elections law historically has under-represented urban areas that are centers of support for Islamist candidates. The Islamic Action Front, the major Islamic party, participated in the June 2003 parliamentary elections and held 17 of the 110 seats. The Islamic Action Front, the political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood, returned to parliament as part of the opposition. And, a special quota system was devised to also bring in a number of women. But the king's critics say such elections are not enough and Jordan still falls far short of being a true democracy and what little political reform has occurred has come too slowly. Jordanian officials say they are only moving to limit the spread of Islamic fundamentalism.
On 26 February 2003, King Abdullah II issued a royal decree to organize parliamentary elections that were finally held on 17 June 2003. King Abdullah had dissolved the Parliament in June 2001, at the end of its four-year term and general elections should have followed in November of that year, the first since he ascended the throne upon the death of his father in 1999. Nevertheless, they were postponed fifteen months due firstly to procedural problems and later on to turmoil in the Middle East, according to the authorities.
The elections were based on a new electoral law that increased the number of seats from 80 to 110, lowered the voting age by one year to 18 and reserved six seats for women. Some 765 candidates, including 54 women, registered to take part in the legislative elections. The elections were marked by the participation of opposition forces, especially the Islamic Action Front (IAF), the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, which had boycotted the 1997 elections to protest the one-person, one-vote election formula. This formula was still applied for the 2003 elections. The balloting went smoothly although some cases of irregularities were often reported in some areas. Observers pointed out that some scenes of what they termed "public misbehaviour and indiscipline" had occurred during the election process.
Declaring a public holiday to encourage a high turnout effectively paid off, as almost 59 per cent of all registered voters cast their ballots. The official elections spokesman described this turnout as "relatively good" when compared to the 1997 elections, in which 44.27 per cent of all registered voters had participated.
The independents, notably representatives of the major tribes and families traditionally loyal to the Hashemite royal family, carried a large majority of the House of Deputies' 110 seats and more than half the country's 45 constituencies. The Islamist opposition, which won about half of the 30 seats it had contested, declared that the election was marred by fraud. No woman was elected and a special commission was tasked with choosing six women to fill the quota of seats reserved for them, from among the 54 women candidates who had stood for the elections. June 17 parliamentary elections were generally regarded as free and fair. Diplomatic observers saw no evidence of irregularities, though citizens registered 54 complaints with the Parliament for its review. The complaints included vote buying, persons voting more than once, and voting by improperly registered voters. Post-election unrest in Naur, the only major public protest related to the outcome, was tied to conflicts between supporters of the winning and losing candidates.
On 27 October 2003, the members of the new government chaired by Mr. Faisal al-Fayez took their constitutional oath before King Abdullah II. On November 17, the King appointed a new Senate, and reappointed Zeid Rifai as President. Fourteen senators were carried over from the previous 40-member Senate. In line with tradition, the Senate contains a large number of former government officials, including 24 former ministers and 4 former prime ministers. The number of women members increased from three to seven, while the number of senators of Palestinian origin decreased from nine to seven.
In 2001, the Government initiated a series of consolidations to merge the country's 328 municipalities into 99. The Ministry of Municipal Affairs stated that these mergers were taken to reduce municipal operating costs and to improve local services. A 2002 provisional law gives the King the power to appoint up to half of the mayors and municipal councils. Opponents of these measures claimed that the consolidations were an attempt to undermine the strength of Islamist parties in local Government, and that they will weaken the democratic process at the municipal level by reducing the number of locally elected officials. The IAF sought to enjoin the Government from making the consolidations, but the courts held that the IAF had no standing to initiate action against the consolidation.
The June 26 municipal elections were regarded as generally free and fair, although some losing candidates claimed that voter fraud was a problem. The IAF boycotted the elections in all districts outside of greater Amman to protest the provisional law on appointing municipal officials.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
