Jordan Times
Tuesday, December 27, 2005
Security is top
political concern — poll
90.4 % of respondents support anti-terrorism law
By a staff reporter
AMMAN — Citizens believe terrorism is the most
important “political problem” requiring the government's immediate attention, an
opinion poll conducted by the Jordan Centre for Social Research (JCSR) showed.
Similar to other polls, the JCSR survey showed that the public defined other
problems in the country today as the rising cost of living, unemployment and
poverty.
Out of the 1,000 individuals surveyed between Dec. 10 and 14, 30.8 per cent of
the respondents placed living expenses as a major priority, followed by
unemployment (27.4 per cent), poverty (18.3 per cent).
The findings are consistent with a poll carried out by JCSR earlier this year
and that of the Jordan University's Centre for Strategic Studies poll reflecting
citizens' general aspiration to enjoy a better standard of living.
JCSR is an independent, nonprofit think tank based in Amman. The study, released
on Sunday, is its second national public opinion poll.
Entitled “Democratic Transformation and Political Reform in Jordan,” the poll
showed 29 per cent of respondents consider terrorism as the most important
political problem requiring immediate attention, followed by 11. 5 per cent who
believe the instability of neighbouring countries and its impact on Jordan a
priority.
The International Republican Institute (IRI) supported the poll and Middle East
Marketing and Research Consultants conducted the fieldwork.
Researchers said the findings were significant especially after the Nov. 9
bombings that rocked three Amman hotels and killed 60 people, because it
reflected a shift in public opinion towards political problems facing the
country.
A poll by JCSR in September 2005 showed the number one political problem was
corruption.
Researchers said the latest poll was conducted in the wake of the November
bombings as part of an attempt to revisit people's perception towards current
and new issues including the challenges facing Jordanian society, attitudes on
the urgency of political reform, and the relative importance of security vs.
political reform.
According to the survey, 90.4 per cent of respondents said they support the
enactment of a proposed anti-terrorism law. The government has announced that it
would follow through on an anti-terrorism bill as part of new efforts to counter
attempts by terrorist groups to destabilise the country. Although many human
rights activists fear that the law would restrict public freedoms and infringe
on people's privacy, authorities believe it is a necessary security measure.
The government will also work on improving living conditions and political
reform to ensure greater public security, officials said.
The JCSR survey also found that 75.7 per cent of respondents think political
reform in Jordan should continue after the terrorist attacks.
But 11.2 per cent said reform should take a slower pace, and 6.3 said it should
be halted.
The survey also showed that 69.4 per cent of respondents believe that
maintaining the security of the country and proceeding with political reform are
equally important.
But 25.8 per cent said the country's stability was more important than political
reform.
Main issues related to the country's political reform include amending numerous
laws such as the Elections Law, Political Parties Law, Municipalities Law,
Public Gatherings Law and many laws related to the press and media.
According to the survey, 48.8 per cent of the participants regard the country's
controversial Elections Law — which includes the single vote system — as the
most appropriate for Jordan. But 10.4 per cent of respondents said they support
a national list system, while 17 per cent supported a one-seat one-district
system, and 17.5 per cent supported a mixed (lists and district seats) system.
Asked if parliamentary elections would be carried out today, 44.0 per cent said
they would vote for Jordanian nationalist candidates and 23.4 per cent said they
would vote for Islamic Action Front candidates. Half of the respondents (18
years of age or over randomly selected from 100 locations covering the whole of
the Kingdom) said they were in favour of dissolving the current Parliament and
holding early parliamentary elections. Around 36.4 per cent were against this
option.
On public freedoms, 48.4 per cent of the poll respondents think that the freedom
to publicly criticise the government's policies and decisions is guaranteed.
According to the poll an increasing number of Jordanians (or 74.5 per cent)
think that peaceful political participation and protests are the most
appropriate way of changing the government, while only 5.7 per cent think that
violent action is a good way to bring about a change of the government.
Violent action was supported by 16 per cent in the September poll.