AMMAN —
The Lower House on Tuesday passed the elections draft law. It is one of two key
pieces of legislation, alongside constitutional amendments, to modernize the
political system and move the Kingdom towards a parliamentary system.
اضافة اعلان
The parties would run on platforms and be
capable of being elected to Parliament and forming governments, according to
the Jordan News Agency, Petra.
The new system would incrementally increase
the number of representatives who represent parties, from an initial 30 percent
in the next parliamentary elections up to 65 percent in the next 10 years.
These changes would come in parallel with
economic and administrative reforms to pursue a Jordanian model of local
governance.
The draft law redraws the electoral map into
two types of districts: local and general, totaling 138 seats. Of these, 97 are
allocated to local constituencies spread over 18 electoral precincts, and 41
seats are allocated to the general list that are set aside for parties and
coalitions.
The bill gives voters two votes within a
mixed electoral system, which adopts a closed proportional system for party
lists, and an open proportional system for local lists. The election threshold
is 7 percent for lists in local districts and 2.5 percent in general districts.
The draft law also
requires at least one woman to be among the first three candidates of the
general (partisan) lists and a young candidate (30 or younger) among the first
five candidates. At the local level, the law sets aside 18 seats for women,
nine for Christians, and three for Circassians and Chechens.
Furthermore, the law reduces the minimum age to stand
for election to 25, considers voters’ place of residence when preparing lists,
and makes voters’ ID the only document required to vote. The law does not
require public sector employees to resign before running for Parliament and
also imposes a sentence of up to two years in prison for election-related
crimes and infractions.
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