AMMAN — The Lower House of Parliament, presided by
Speaker
Abdel Karim Al-Doghmi, on Monday held a heated debate of the draft
election law, which was approved by the Legal Committee at the end of last
week, after nearly two months of discussions by its members.
اضافة اعلان
At the heart of discussions was the issue of a proposed gradual
shift, over a number of election cycles, toward a Lower House controlled by a
bloc formed by political parties rather than individual MPs, and whether the
number of electoral districts across the Kingdom should be reduced.
Representative Saleh Al-Armouti insisted that the draft election
law include one national list, saying that “political parties are oppressed and
will not have a share in the political life”.
He added that the system of districts and their distribution must
be an integral part of the law.
Representative
Majid Al-Rawashdeh tackled the issue of fairness of
the law, saying that the population of some governorates is twice as large as
that of other governorates, yet they are awarded the same number of seats.
Rawashdeh wondered whether the intention is to move toward
national lists then keep quotas for Christians, Circassians, women, and others,
stressing that this violates the Constitution, which affirms that Jordanians
are equal before the law.
On the other hand, MP Amghair Al-Hamlan Al-Daajah said that the
proposed draft electoral law is unfair to some societal components, especially
in the capital, Amman, adding that reducing the number of districts in the
capital Amman means merging some, which will lead to depriving certain groups
of representation under the Dome.
Deputy Firas Al-Sawair Al-Ajarmeh urged his colleagues to be
careful about approving the articles of the draft election law, saying that
this law will draw the political map for Jordan for the next three electoral
sessions.
Sawair said that “there are dangerous articles in this law”, and
asked “how can we vote for the capital,
Amman, to have three districts, without
approving a system for allocating these districts”.
“The law in the third electoral cycle gives 65 percent of the
Lower House seats to political parties, and I ask how will these seats be taken
from local constituencies? Do we accept that Central Badia, for example, be
left with one deputy? The district system in the draft must be approved before
the law is passed,” he said.
He
asked the deputies to put the interest of the nation above everything and
ensure that the suggested redrawing of districts “does not tamper with our
national constants and our Jordanian identity, which we have preserved
throughout the past 100 years of life as a state.”
Read more National news
Jordan News
.jpg)
.jpg)
