AMMAN — Chief
Commissioner of the Independent Election Commission (IEC) Musa Maaytah said
that there is “no security intervention in political parties in Jordan”.
اضافة اعلان
Speaking at a
ceremony held on Tuesday to graduate young members of political parties who had
attended a series of training workshops on political participation, Maaytah
told
Jordan News that “the new Elections Law makes it clear that the
state is serious about political reform.”
The workshops,
organized by Al Quds Center for Political Studies in cooperation with the
Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, targeted 110 young members of 28 political parties.
The workshops focused on empowering young leaders of political parties.
Oraib Al–Rantawi,
founder and director of Al-Quds Centre for Political Studies, told
Jordan
News that “some events in the history of the country continue to affect the
general attitude concerning joining political parties.”
“Other reasons
for Jordanians’ fear of participations in politics include the unattractiveness
of political parties and the fact that young people feel that their
participation would not make a real and essential change,” he added.
He said that
“parties are responsible for presenting a discourse that would attract young
people. The country also has to send messages of reassurance, in both words and
action”.
Resident
Representative of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung Edmund Ratka told
Jordan News that “there is a genuine effort by the Royal Court and the government to move
toward more participation in political parties.”
Regarding
intervention in politics by security forces, Ratka said “I trust what the government
is saying, especially that the new law encourages the youth to engage in
politics without fear of intimidation.”
The new Elections
Law, the outcome of work by the Royal Commission to Modernize the Political
System, states that youths between 18 and 25 must constitute 20 percent of all
party members.
It also
stipulates having at least one woman among the first three candidates on the
general list and among the next three candidates, in addition to having a young
man or woman (35 years old or younger) among the first five candidates.
However, a recent
poll showed that 87 percent of Jordanians have no knowledge about the law, and
only 13 percent had heard or knew about it.
The same poll showed that
67 percent of Jordanians, oppose the participation of university students in
political parties, fearing problems, strife, and discrimination, and only 33
percent support such participation.
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