Reform & Development Strategy
Constitutional Evolution
Political Reform & Democratization
Jordanian Elections 2003
Parliamentary Affairs
Jordan's Vision for the Future: The Reform Agenda

The political process that followed on the domestic scene saw Jordan proceed along the path of political liberalization faster than any other country in the Arab world. By 1992, martial law and the anti-communism law were abolished, while a law for a Higher Court of Justice as well as a law on political parties were promulgated. Moreover, Jordan had signed all six principle international human rights instruments by 1993.

The parliamentary elections of 1989, witnessed voter turnout of 41% and a substantial victory for Muslim Brotherhood members who won 22 of the 80 seats of the Lower House in addition to another 12 seats won by affiliated candidates. Although parties were not yet legalized at the time, except for the Muslim Brotherhood, which was the only established political grouping, candidates publicized their ideological tendencies. The 1989-1993 parliament approved several fundamental laws for the process of democratization including the law on political parties, the lifting of martial law, the endorsement of the National Charter and the Press and Publications Law.

The 1993 elections witnessed voter turnout of 51%, and the participation of 20 parties, the seats won by members of the Islamic Action Front (the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood) declined to seventeen and those of independent Islamists to only five. The IAF attributed this to the government’s change of the election law to the one-man one-vote formula. However, under half of those deputies elected in 1993 did not have any form of party affiliation and the number was even less in the 1997 elections which witnessed a voter turnout of 47%.

It is estimated that only 13,820 Jordanians were members of all political parties in 1993. It can also be added that the lack of a tangible domestic agenda in most party programs as well as their excessive concern with regional and ideological issues that are not of the average citizen's interest anymore has undermined the popularity and credibility of political parties in general (many of which have originated in neighboring Arab countries).

The one-man-vote elections law, enacted in 1993 as a temporary law, highlighted the citizens' general inclination to vote according to tribal and family identification. This law was introduced as a cabinet decree after the 1989 parliament was dissolved, replacing the system of multiple ballots in which electors cast their ballots in multimember constituencies. The former had given relatively higher voting power for urban centers and a stronger opportunity for members to be elected on non-kinship basis. Many political parties felt disadvantaged by the one-man vote system, particularly the Islamic Action Front, which boycotted the 1997 elections after it lost 5 of its 22 seats in the 1993 parliamentary elections. More than half of the 80 parliamentary seats were won by candidates with no party affiliation, and 90 percent of all standing candidates likewise were independent. However, the total number of party members who boycotted the elections did not exceed 2500 or approximately 1/1000 of eligible voters, nor did the boycott affect voter turnout.

Distribution of seats in Jordan’s parliaments before the ban on political parties in 1957and after the return to parliamentary life in 1989.

The government of Mr. Ali Abu Ragheb proposed a new elections law after an all-inclusive national dialogue to help it come up with a new elections law, which King Abdullah II had called for in his letter of designation to the Prime Minister in June 2000. The letter stressed that Jordan needs a "modern elections law opening the way for free competition." The new elections law draft would entail an increase in the number of electoral districts around densely-populated areas like Irbid, Amman and Zarqa. The Kingdom's major governorates including the capital have an urban population of around 3.2 million inhabitants out of the Kingdom's total population of more than 4.75 million inhabitants in 1998 are represented by 41 members in the elected House of Representatives while 39 are allocated to the rest of the Kingdom.

Governorates in the south, north and center of the Kingdom (approximately 4.4% of the Kingdom's population) are represented by 6 members in total, which is equal to that of Zarqa governorate whose population is about 15.5% of the Kingdom. The Karak governorate with 4.2% of the Kingdom's population is allocated 9 seats. The Amman governorate with 40.5% of Jordan's population is represented with 18 members in Parliament or 22.5% of the seats.

This disproportion of constituencies in terms of the ration of candidates to the population may be attributed to two factors: First, the large refugee population in and around densely populated urban constituencies is a political obstacle to any process of electoral reform. This may remain to be the case until the final status negotiations between Palestinians and Israelis reach a permanent solution on the issue of refugees. Second, the need to ensure sufficient access to underprivileged areas in the Kingdom in order to treat their demands on an equal footing with more privileged urban centers. In this respect, one should note that the majority of families living under the poverty line are concentrated in the Karak governorate (39.5% of the population of that constituency) and Mafraq governorate (39.3%) compared to governorates with the lowest rates: Amman (20.9%) and Zarqa (24.8%) according to figures provided by the Ministry of Social Development.

Despite dissatisfaction by parties and the Islamic Action Front, as well as some disillusionment by the public from the performance of members of parliament, opinion polls by the Center for Strategic Studies at Jordan University offer a positive outlook on the levels of democratization Jordan is perceived to have achieved according to citizens that were polled. On a scale of 1-10 (1 indicating the lowest scale of democratization & 10 indicating the highest scale of democratization), the average response by those polled in 1993 was 4.6. This average increased in 1999 to 5.5 indicating that in the minds of those polled, Jordan had gone more than half way towards a full fledged democratic system. This can be contrasted to an average grade of 3.5 accorded to Syria, 4.5 to Egypt and 8.1 to the United States by those Jordanians polled.

The strongest level of dissatisfaction marked by the poll focused on freedom to hold demonstrations and sit-ins (30.4% believed that such freedoms were not available while 25.2% believed they were guaranteed to a moderate or high degree) while there was a high degree of satisfaction as far as freedom of opinion and the press were concerned (70.4% believed that freedom of opinion was moderately or highly guaranteed in 1999 compared to 41.2% in 1995). As much as 70.9% believed that the rule of law and justice were prevalent to a high or moderate degree.

Freedom in the World rankings of political rights and civil liberties since 1979 indicate a tangible improvement in Jordan's ranking level from 6 in 1979 to 4 in 1992 (1 is considered the best ranking while 10 is the worst in terms of protection of rights and liberties). Interestingly Jordan had surpassed almost all other Arab states in its rankings by Freedom in the World since 1979.

World Audit, another non-governmental organization monitoring human rights and political freedom around the world had given Jordan in 2000 a score of 75 out of a total score of 149 (lower scores are preferable) ranking it in third place among 17 Arab states included in the survey (behind Kuwait and Morocco with 67 and 68 points respectively).

Nine of the 80 seats of the elected Lower House of Parliament are reserved for Christian candidates and another three seats are reserved for Circassian and Chechen candidates. The Upper House or the Senate consists of 40 seats and its members are appointed by the King.

The significance of Jordan's recent democratic experience is the institutional context in which it evolved historically, the relative absence of government repression and the margin of freedom within which the country's political life continued to evolve despite setbacks originating in regional insecurities and the weakness of participatory institutions to absorb the regional political upheavals of the 1950s and 1960s and their domestic repercussions. As mentioned earlier, the current liberalization process has been characterized as genuine and unprecedented for the Arab World. All elections since 1989 were held in conditions free from repression or violence and the citizens were able to cast their votes in secret ballots free from intimidation.

The strengthening of Jordan's political liberalization process is indicative of the overall strengthening of Jordan's institutions and the emerging balance between the control and participatory functions underlined by ongoing efforts to reform the public institutions. The perceived setbacks the process of political liberalization may have witnessed in the past few years (restrictions on demonstrations or rallies) are triggered mainly by temporary foreign policy concerns.

The process of political liberalization, however, in the long term, will increasingly depend on the evolution of the civil society in the Kingdom, as a widening margin for political freedoms encourages the strengthening of political parties and mass participation and as public confidence in the viability of these institutions grows.

Agenda for Political Development 2003

His Majesty King Abdullah swore in a new 21-member cabinet on 25th October 2003 led by Prime Minister Faisal El-Fayez. The new cabinet brought a new agenda, some new faces, mainly young technocrats, and an unprecedented three women. 

The new government's agenda will be marked by an "all-embracing vision" that aims to further the state and its social, economic and political sectors. However, political reform and development comes at the top of the new government's agenda. Indeed, a new portfolio, the Ministry of Political Development was created in order to implement King Abdullah's vision of comprehensive political development.

In his reply to His Majesty King Abdullah's Letter of Designation, Prime Minister El Fayez focused entirely on a domestic agenda that would bring about the "quality change" that King Abdullah called for. El Fayez pledged that Comprehensive development comes at the "crux of the main themes for the forthcoming phase, in which democracy will be established and matured to encompass all the components of the Jordanian society that represent, without exception, the different political and social forces." 

"We want an all-embracing dialogue with all sectors of civic society, as well as the political and social forces, participate in order to build a political development that embodies your vision of facilitating the formation of national political parties, that enjoy strong resolve and wide representation, whose underlying objective is Jordan's progress and prosperity," El Fayez stated in his response letter.

The new government's agenda encompasses the following:

• Commitment to achieve comprehensive political, economic and social development;
• Safeguarding constitutional rights and maintaining public and private freedoms;
• Guaranteeing the freedom of expression and open dialogue in the interest of achieving the full and effective participation of all Jordanians- men and women;
• Implementing the democracy of worthiness on the basis of equal opportunities, excellence, creativity and the pursuit of the provision of work opportunities in close cooperation with the private sector and the civic society.
• Developing education and the Jordanian human capital in the interest of a developed and healthy economy within the authenticity of Jordan's legacy and the Hashemite lineage;
• Serious pursuit of the achievement of tangible improvement in the living standards of Jordanian men and women and the development of public sector services and infrastructures;
• Activating women's participation in all the political, economic and social sectors;
• Commitment to enhance the role of the Homeland's young men and women in effective participation in leadership and development;
• Establishing a genuine and productive partnership between the private and public sectors and unleashing the momentum of interaction by stimulating the private sector to play a more effective and harmonious role with its capabilities and capacities;
• Commitment to enhancing financial and monetary stability and continuing economic and financial reform.

El Fayez marked that the modus operandi of the new government will be based on "the principle of transparency and the approach of responsibility and accountability," noting at the end of his letter that the new government will consecrate all its capabilities and invest all its efforts for the sake of realizing His Majesty's vision of "Jordan First, Jordan Now, and Jordan Forever." 

Women and Political Participation

Jordan has placed high importance and great emphasis in recent years on the rights of women to vote and run for public office, thereby serving as a model for other countries in the region. Steps were taken during the recent 2003 elections for six seats in the Jordanian House of Deputies reserved for female candidates, over and above any seats freely won in the elections, to ensure the participation and representation of women in the development of Jordan's political life and freedoms. On October 25, 2003, a new 21-member Jordanian Cabinet was sworn in which includes three women, among them, Asma Khader, a prominent lawyer and champion of human rights, particularly women's issues;

According to a report by the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI), women's political participation in the June 2003 elections increased dramatically since those held in 1997, with the number of women candidates almost tripling from 17 in 1997 to 54; women candidates receiving 40 percent more votes than in 1997; and for the first time, more women voted than men.

Reform & Development Strategy II Constitutional Evolution II Political Reform & Democratization II Jordanian Elections 2003 II Parliamentary Affairs