AMMAN — An
Independent Election Commission (IEC) examination of the results of this year’s provincial and
municipal elections, and of the elections for the Greater Amman Municipality
Council, shows that out of the 128 candidates, 39 identified themselves as members
of a political party.
اضافة اعلان
The results notwithstanding, opinions
differ on whether the candidates’ social role and tribal affiliation played a
greater role in their election than their party affiliation.
"Most votes were cast in
accordance with the same rules; meaning for the same regional and tribal reasons,"
political analyst
Oraib Al-Rantawi told
Jordan News.
He added that partisan work has been
severely damaged in recent decades, and that aversion to involvement in
political parties, and politics in general, has grown.
The problem, according to Rantawi,
is not the absence of political parties from the political scene, but rather a low
voter turnout. This year, for example, only 29 percent of citizens voted, and
12 percent of those who did submitted blank votes to express their
dissatisfaction with the elections and the candidates.
These figures, in his opinion, are
the “bitter result of years of hollowing out and eroding political action in
Jordan, weakening political elites and replacing them with social and
technocratic elites who operate outside of social rules, resulting in a huge
political vacuum” that the country has been complaining about for years.
Rantawi emphasized that the state's
failure is not due to political parties alone, but also to the absence of
politicians, since “Jordan's political class is fatigued, weak, and withdrawn,
and does not renew in a serious and meaningful way”.
"Therefore, we witnessed a tiny
number of party members participating in the municipal elections within the
context of their partisan character, and the outcomes were tied to their social
base rather than their party identification," he continued.
According to Rantawi, for parties to
do their jobs effectively, they need a climate of political freedoms in which they,
including those in opposition, can participate without fear of discrimination
or targeting.
He claimed that the government sends
contradictory messages in this area, that “while it speaks loudly about reform,
there are still preemptive arrests, restrictions on different kinds of
freedoms, and suspensions of media professionals”.
"The state must make decisions
and choose which path it wishes to take," he said, stressing that Jordanians
have a long history of political and partisan work that “can be restored in a
systematic and organized manner”.
However, “real political will is
required to open the public space to partisan participation and provide fertile
ground for the development of an active and effective political and partisan
life in Jordan,” Rantawi concluded.
According to political analyst
Amer Al-Sabaileh partisan work takes time, that “there are developed frameworks,
whether tribe, youth, or others, that have been influenced by the desires of
particular parties”, yet “the party was not the primary reason for which candidates
were elected to municipal seats".
Sabaileh added that there has been “an
attempt to convert this societal energy into political action, with the party
serving as the entry point”, adding that the shift from tribal representation
to party representation “is a positive step, but it cannot be regarded as the
result of a transformation in the parties ethos”.
While he does not believe that the
path to political reform is difficult, he said that “there are still steps that
need to be taken to ensure the long-term establishment of a political life with
solid foundations”, which he defines as freedom of political action, guaranteed
freedom of expression, and personal freedom zones, and that “the need now is to
believe in the necessity of bringing about a cultural revolution”.
The overwhelming majority of
candidates, according to Secretary General of the
Islamic Action Front Party (IAF)
Murad Al-Adaileh, does not rely on party identities during political campaigns,
“but rather on its social base”.
According to Adaileh, the IAF had suspended
its participation in previous municipal elections due to the absence of the
right political environment. The most significant impediment to partisan work
today, he believes, is the “security grasp on civilian life, which prevents a
healthy political” life.
“People will naturally resort to
organized work and party activity if there is a conducive atmosphere for
political movement”, he said, adding that he does not see “any indication of a
desire for reform in the foreseeable future”.
Secretary-General of the
Jordanian Communist Party Fouad Dabour said that “it is common for parties to choose
representatives from significant tribes and social groups, as this is the
reality in Jordan”. "Although the party's role is important and cannot be
denied, the tribe's role is more important in Jordan," he said.
No Jordanian party, said Dabour, has
the ability to amass the numbers that the tribe can, and no party's organizational
foundation has a large enough audience to compete with the social bases.
"Any election law, no matter
how democratic, may be bypassed by tribe or political money," he said.
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