Jordan Times
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Municipal elections: Candidate registration opens today
AMMAN — The Ministry of Municipal Affairs today opens its doors for citizens who wish to register as candidates for the upcoming municipal elections, Minister of Municipal Affairs Nader Thuheirat said on Saturday.
By Mohammad Ben Hussein
“We are fully prepared to hold the elections in the smoothest and most transparent manner possible,” Thuheirat told The Jordan Times.
Candidate registration will continue for three days and end on July 24, in accordance with the Municipal Elections Law.
“Everything is going according to plan. Records of voters have been finalised after going through all constitutional channels,” Thuheirat added.
At the end of the registration period, candidates will be permitted to start campaigning for the elections, slated for July 31.
The minister criticised would-be candidates who started their campaigns before the permitted time.
The law stipulates that candidates can start campaigning one day after registration ends, but for weeks, the streets of the capital and surrounding towns have been festooned with banners and posters displaying names and photos of potential candidates and their programmes.
Some disgruntled candidates called on the government to put an end to the illegal campaigning, but officials from the ministries of municipal affairs and interior say they have no legal power to do so.
This year’s elections will see women having guaranteed representation in municipal councils across the Kingdom, thanks to the recently amended Municipalities Law.
The legislation introduced a 20 per cent quota for women in each council — a minimum 220 out of 965 municipal council seats.
Under the law, the age of eligible voters was reduced from 19 to 18 years to expand the voter base and official figures indicate that a record 1.9 million voters have registered for the elections.
Voters will also be able to elect mayors directly, except in the capital, where the mayor will still be appointed by the government.
Meanwhile, civil society groups, political parties and government agencies have been promoting participation in the elections.
Meetings are being organised in social and sports clubs and other public facilities in a bid to encourage fruitful dialogue between prospective candidates and voters.
Last week, the women’s movement in Jordan launched a national campaign to support female candidates.
The initiative, under the slogan of “My house, my municipality, my country, a trust I undertake”, is designed to help women increase their representation in the municipal polls.
“It is important to achieve a big success in the elections… This will reflect positively on women and the family in the long-run. It will also encourage legislators and the government to become more serious about women’s demands and issues,” Secretary General of the Jordanian National Commission for Women (JNCW) Asma Khader said.
Around 500 women have so far expressed interest in running in the municipal elections, according to a JNCW tally.
A “unified list” of women candidates running in the country’s 93 municipalities will be announced after registration for the elections closes on July 24, and a website will be set up to provide information on the candidates, including their profiles, districts and election platforms, according to Khader.
In the 2003 municipal elections, only five of the 46 women who ran won, prompting the government to appoint 97 women to local councils.