Jordan Times
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Municipal Affairs Ministry holds practice run for polls
AMMAN (Petra) — Prime Minister Marouf Bakhit on
Monday attended a rehearsal for the voting process in this month’s municipal
elections.
The rehearsal, organised by the Ministry of Municipal Affairs, included election
techniques and mechanisms of calculating the women’s quota and electing the
president and members of municipal councils.
During the event attended by several ministers and officials, Bakhit reiterated
the government’s commitment to His Majesty King Abdullah’s directives for
carrying out transparent and objective municipal elections, slated for July 31.
Earlier this year, the government endorsed the Municipalities Law which aims at
fostering the participation of young people and women in the elections.
Under the law, the age of eligible voters has been reduced from 19 to 18 years
to expand the voter base. The legislation also allocates a minimum of 220 out of
the 965 municipal council seats for women.
The premier called the heads of election committees across the country as well
as the concerned authorities to take necessary measures to facilitate election
procedures for citizens and encourage them to elect qualified candidate to
represent them.
Bakhit also underlined the need for maintaining cooperation between municipal
affairs and interior ministries.
Minister of Municipal Affairs Nader Thuheirat briefed the attendance on
procedures adopted by the ministry to facilitate elections, starting with the
registration process.
A total of 1.9 million citizens registered to vote in the polls, an
unprecedented number in the country’s elections experience.
Thuheirat said a major operations room was formed at the ministry, which is
connected with other operation rooms across the country for ensuring regulated
elections.
He noted that employees at the polling posts will refer to the national numbers
on voter IDs to make sure people do not vote more than once.
Candidates can run for the elections between July 22 and 24, while voters will
have the chance to cast their ballots on July 31 between 7:00am and 5:00pm.
Voting hours may be extended for another four hours on the same day.