Jordan – To introduce the new electoral law of the Jordanian House of Representatives, and enable Arab and foreign media and press to support the efforts of their local counterparts in covering the upcoming legislative elections on September 10th, Media Commission in The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan organized an introductory workshop in cooperation with Independent Election Commission in The Kingdom.
“WATERLOO TIMES” participated in the workshop, along with a large group of these media and press, upon an official invitation from Media Commission, which included an explanation given by Dr. Issa Al-Tarawneh, Director of the Electoral Institute in Jordan, and his colleague, Director of Media, Communication and Awareness at the Independent Election Commission, Sharaf Abu Rumman, regarding the new electoral law and the Commission’s awareness and organizational role in the legislative elections.
According to Tarawneh’s explanations, the new electoral law features several changes, the most prominent of which is reducing the electoral districts in the Kingdom from 23 to 18 local ones, in addition to one general district across the entirety of Jordan, adding that the 18 districts will be within their geographical scope. At the same time, the 19 will cover the entire country.
According to Tarawneh, the 18 districts were divided based on 3 for the capital Amman, 2 for Irbid Governorate, and one for each of the remaining governorates of Balqa, Karak, Tafilah, Zarqa, Ma’an, Mafraq, Madaba, Jerash, Ajloun, and Aqaba, in addition to 3 others for the Bedouins of the north, center, and south. Tarawneh explained that several facilities were provided to voters, enabling them to choose the appropriate electoral center for them, with the possibility of changing it, indicating in another matter the adoption of the 19th general district to enable party candidacy and not limit the matter to its counterpart, which means the existence of two forms of closed proportional lists and its open counterpart.
Al-Tarawneh explained that the voter’s choice of the open proportional list means that he receives a ballot booklet containing the sequence of party lists and the sequence of their candidates, which enables him to choose the list and a number of his preferred candidates, provided that he does not move between more than two party lists.
According to Al-Tarawneh, the closed proportional list with its ballot boxes at the level of the Kingdom as a whole includes party lists that enable the voter going to it to take the ballot paper and vote for the party list that he sees as worthy of being chosen to represent him in the House of Representatives, regardless of the candidate.
In response to a question submitted by the Waterloo Times to Al-Tarawneh regarding the extension of the voting process, he explained, “There is no extension of the voting time as before, to be from 7 am to 7 pm, meaning that the voter “You will not enter the polling station after 6:59 pm on election day.”
Dr. Issa Al-Tarawneh- Director of the Electoral Institute in Jordan
From his side, Abu Rumman provided an explanation to the Waterloo Times regarding the media awareness operations of the Independent Election Commission, represented by distributing brochures and sending short messages via phones and other means such as the introductory workshops held for those concerned in the local, Arab and foreign press and media.
Sharaf Abu Rumman – Director of Media Communication and Awareness at the Independent Election Commission
Abu Rumman also revealed to the Waterloo Times that there are 10 watermarks in the ballot booklet and ballot paper that are not announced to ensure that they are not forged, at a time when the Director of the Media Commission, Bashir Al-Momani, stressed in an intervention on the sidelines of his participation in the workshop the importance of passing on the observations of these corrective means for the Independent Election Commission to study and take them into account.
Bashir Al-Momani – Director of the Media Commission
In conclusion, the Waterloo Times surveyed the opinion of those in charge of preparing and implementing the Introductory workshop Director of Public Relations and Media Accreditation at the Media Commission Omar Alawneh said: “We have organized this important activity for Arab and foreign media outlets officially accredited to work in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan to familiarize their correspondents with the mechanisms for dealing with the new electoral law for the Jordanian House of Representatives elections.”
Omar Alawneh – Director of Public Relations and Media Accreditation at the Media Commission
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