Jordan Times
Monday, October 22, 2007
NGOs gearing up for
Parliamentary Elections
By Mohammad Ben Hussein
AMMAN - Observers on Sunday welcomed the government’s approval for independent
groups to monitor the upcoming parliamentary elections.
Reacting to Prime Minister Marouf Bakhit’s Jordan Television interview
expressing support for the move, some observers said they expect even more
oversight.
Over the past few months, the government has been adamantly opposed to allowing
NGOs to monitor the most important election in the country, in which Jordanians
will choose their 110 representatives in the 15th Parliament.
While officials have given mixed signals about the fate of independent election
oversight, there have been persistent demands for such a change since the
municipal elections were overshadowed by accusations of government interference
by opposition parties and human rights groups.
Minister of Interior Eid Fayez said earlier this month that it was “against the
Constitution to allow anybody to enter balloting centres other than candidates
and their representatives”.
But a statement from the prime minister over the weekend settled the issue.
Bakhit told Jordan Television’s 60 Minutes news show that the government had no
objection to independent group participation.
“The government will allow NGOs to visit the ballot centre and get acquainted
with government procedures,” the premier said.
According to Arinit Shehu, of the National Democratic Institute for
International Affairs (NDIIA), domestic election observation helps enhance the
four tangible criteria that any level of democracy should be measured by:
Transparency, accountability, political representation and civic political
participation.
“Domestic observation marks the beginning of building solid and fruitful
relationships between civil society, political leadership and government,” Shehu
said.
Shehu and other activists from the NDIIA have been training civil groups over
the past few months on modern methods of election monitoring in order to come up
with the most reliable information possible.
According to Shehu, local observation should not be done by any one group in
particular but by several groups in order to gain more perspective.
Bakhit said the National Centre for Human Rights, which was set up by the
government, will be the main group to monitor the election process.
“Observation is about providing an impartial and independent view of
proceedings. It presents a real way for citizens to witness the political
process,” Shehu said. “Observers help promote confidence and participation in
the process by reassuring the public that its citizens are interested, engaged
and watching.”
Jamil Nimri, a political analyst at Al Ghad daily, said that independent
observation will send a strong message about the government’s “seriousness in
conducting fair and free polls”.
But Abdul Karim Shreideh, from the Arab Organisation for Human Rights, and a
would-be candidate for the upcoming elections in Irbid’s Third District, was
sceptical about government’s intentions.
“We need all civil groups in the country to observe the elections in order to
have a clear and transparent picture about the process,” Shreideh said,
explaining that it is within the constitutional rights of all groups in the
country to seriously keep an eye on the elections in order to give them
credibility.
Leaders of the Islamic Action Front (IAF), the political wing of the Muslim
Brotherhood, said that independent election monitoring is an absolute necessity
and should be conducted professionally.
“Our main concern is to have rigging-free polls. It will be up to the government
and its agencies to either play it fair or not,” said Reheil Gharaybeh, deputy
secretary general of the IAF.
The IAF withdrew from last July’s municipal elections a few hours after voting
started, alleging vote-rigging. The government brushed off the accusations,
arguing that the Islamist group was orchestrating a media show, prepared ahead
of the polls.
The group threatened to pull out from the parliamentary elections as well, but
it decided to participate “after Bakhit assured us that the elections will be
held in a fair manner”, Gharaybeh said.
In a related development, the interior minister announced that election
committees in the Kingdom’s 12 governorates received 805 applications on the
first day of candidate registration. The committees should decide on the
nominees’ eligibility for candidacy within three days.