Jordan Times
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Candidate registration process starts today
By Mohammad Ben Hussein
AMMAN - Hundreds of would-be candidates are expected to flock to governorate offices across the Kingdom today at the start of a three-day registration process for the November 20 parliamentary elections.
As the process ends on Tuesday, candidates will be allowed to officially launch their campaigns.
Although election officials have made it clear that campaigning is illegal before candidates’ lists are announced, many first-timers and veteran deputies have already presented themselves as representatives for their tribes in their areas as they try to sway more votes in their favour.
In certain areas of Amman, Zarqa, Irbid and most of the rural areas, campaigning has begun already with colourful election banners hanging across main streets and near public squares.
The government has declared no measures to curb the phenomenon.
Parliamentary hopefuls must pay JD500 and must prove that they have no criminal record and are not working for the public sector. Government officials planning to vie for parliamentary seats must prove they have resigned their jobs.
Applications will be reviewed by special election committees comprising senior officials from the Ministry of Interior before an approval is granted.
Saad Shehab, the elections media spokesperson for the Ministry of Interior, said the committees will be working in governors’ offices in all the country’s 12 governorates.
He said the committee has the right to turn down any application if the candidate does not meet requirements. Candidates can contest the committee’s decision at the Court of First Instance within three days from the date of the application.
They also have the right to withdraw from the elections 72 hours at the latest before voting starts. Moreover, eligible voters can contest the committee’s decision to accept a candidate within three days after the lists of candidates is publicised, provided they are from the same electoral district as the candidate.
Candidates running for seats in Amman must also deposit JD2,000 with Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) as a guarantee they will abide by campaigning regulations.
GAM on Saturday announced that 41 candidates filled a special form it has prepared to guarantee their commitment to the campaigning regulations that were announced recently.
Officials are concerned that candidates will not remove their posters and other campaign materials after the elections are over. Many such cases were evident after the July 31st municipal elections.
Officials at GAM said the money will be used to remove the ads and other materials at the candidates’ expense.
The polls will witness the participation of 22 members of the Islamic Action Front, the largest opposition group. The other political parties will also be taking part. Partisan nominees will mainly be competing with independents, and tribal nominees in major urban centres.
The anticipated participation of heavyweights - such as former prime minister Abdur-Ra’uf S. Rawabdeh, who is expected to run in the northern governorate of Irbid, and former minister and Lower House Speaker Abdul Hadi Majali, who is looking to represent his southern hometown of Karak - might spice up the race outside the capital, according to observers.
Tribes across the country have decided which candidates to back, although some tribes have failed to agree on a single name, thus facing the risk of undermining their electoral weight.
Voting for the 15th Parliament will be run under the same Elections Law, which has seen no amendments despite years of a nationwide dialogue. Critics have called for finding an alternative to the controversial one-person, one-vote system, while women activists have, in vain, demanded the government to double the six-seat women quota in the 110-member Lower House.
Khalid Neimat contributed to this article