AMMAN — The Upper House of
Parliament is expected to vote on
Wednesday on a constitutional amendment, which was passed by the Lower House
last week, reducing the minimum age required to run for the House of
Representatives from 30 to 25 years.
اضافة اعلان
Last week, 110 Lower House members out of
130 voted in favor reducing the minimum age of eligibility to run for
Parliament, as a means to encourage Jordan’s youth to become more involved in
local politics.
The amendment that reduces the minimum age
required for electoral participation is item 16 of the Constitutional
amendments debated by the MPs. The amendment essentially rephrases the text of
Article 70 of the Constitution, so that it now reads, “a deputy must have
completed 25 solar years of his age”, replacing the phrase “30 solar years of
his age”.
A number of other constitutional mandates
relating to the eligibility to run for parliamentary election remain unchanged,
such as “no person shall become a senator or deputy who is not a Jordanian”, or
“who was sentenced to a term of imprisonment exceeding one year for a
non-political offense”, as stated by Article 75.
Senator Talal Shurafat told Jordan News that
“just like the Lower House’s voting procedure, a two-thirds majority of the
Upper House is needed for this amendment to proceed. If the Senate passes the
amendments to Article 70, it would need a Royal decree to become officially
enforced. This amendment was recommended by the Royal Committee to Modernize
the Political System, as part of proposed changes affecting the Election Law.”
The minimum age to become a Senator is 40,
and according to Shurafat, it is important for this requirement remains intact,
“because Senate members should be experienced statesmen.”
There are good reasons to be optimistic
about this particular amendment, according to MP Hayel Ayyash, who believes
that these amendments are a positive step in the right direction for the youth.
“Numerous other countries have created pathways that welcome their respective
youth populations into the political process. Jordan is following that
trajectory with these changes. The parliamentary participation of 25 year olds
will inevitably make them more prepared for a future career in politics and
public service.”
Ayyash stated that unemployment is the
biggest issue facing Jordanian youth, which, he said, explains why many of them
are leaving Jordan for other countries searching for work. “We do not encourage
our youth to leave Jordan, and we need to solve the issue of youth unemployment
in order to incentivize them to stay here.”
Compared to the 2016 parliamentary election
turnout of 36 percent, the last parliamentary election of 2020 had a very low
turnout of 29.9 percent, which was generally attributed to lack of interest by
the youth in politics and in political parties; an attitude that is about to
transform with the new amendment that allows young men and women aged 25 years
to run for elections.
However, and aside from the various interpretations
related to the 2020 low voters’ turnout, Chief Commissioner of the
Independent Election Commission Khalid Kalaldeh had said that the outbreak of COVID-19 and
restrictions on campaigning and grouping, as well as fear of infections
constituted a massive blow to people’s enthusiasm about the ballot boxes.
Read more National News
.jpg)
.jpg)
