Jordan Times
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
70% of voters will cast
ballots - survey
By Rana Husseini
AMMAN - Over 70 per cent of eligible voters intend to cast their ballots in
today’s legislative elections, according to the findings of a survey released
Monday.
The findings indicated that 28 per cent of those surveyed said they will not
head to the polls because they believe “there are no qualified candidates who
deserve their votes and the candidates are only running to serve their own
interests”.
The survey, conducted by Ipsos Marketing Research in October on a sample of
1,000 people, attempted to gauge levels of citizens’ participation in the polls,
evaluate women’s political involvement and explore respondents’ opinion on the
women’s quota.
The survey was supported by the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM)
and the Jordanian National Forum for Women (JNFW).
“The initial results of the survey found that females expressed higher interests
in voting than males and that the weight of voters will be in the majority of
governorates such as Irbid and Madaba, but the turnout will be low in Amman and
Zarqa,” said JNFW Secretary General May Abul Samen.
She added that the older generation expressed higher interest in voting than
youth.
Abul Samen, who addressed a press conference at the Radisson SAS Hotel, said one
interesting finding indicated that 75 per cent of those surveyed said they had
general knowledge of the role of the Lower House.
But when asked to be more specific on the role of deputies, 62.1 per cent said
the expected role of the MPs is to serve citizens and help them solve their
problems.
“Only 4.1 per cent of the surveyed said the MPs role is to monitor the
government’s performance, while 9.6 per cent said the deputies’ role is to draft
legislation and laws,” Abul Samen said.
When asked if voters were content with the deputies’ performance, Abul Samen
said 25.3 per cent of the surveyed said they were not happy at all with the
performance of the MPs they voted for.
UNIFEM Director of the Arab States Regional Office Haifa Abu Ghazaleh, who also
addressed reporters, said 60.8 per cent of the surveyed have already decided on
their candidates.
“Over 65 per cent said they made their choice based on the candidate’s
qualifications, 54.7 per cent for their platforms while 49.6 per cent said they
based their choice on religious reasons,” Abu Ghazaleh said.
She continued that 67.2 per cent of the surveyed said they will vote for a
candidate who advocates women’s rights, while 9.8 per cent said they will not
vote for such a candidate.
“But 67.6 of the surveyed said the job of an MP suites men more than women,” Abu
Ghazaleh told reporters.
Turning to the women’s quota, 59 per cent of the questioned said they were aware
of the system, while 52 per cent said the quota should be increased, according
to Abu Ghazaleh.
“Over 30 per cent said the quota should remain the same, while 12.7 voted to
eliminate the quota system altogether,” Abu Ghazaleh said.
Meanwhile, the voters’ socio-economic priorities, according to the survey,
included unemployment, poverty and inflation.
The lowest priorities for those surveyed included combating wasta, promoting
women’s rights, improving services and fighting discrimination between people.
When asked about the opinion of those surveyed on the transparency and fairness
of the elections, 77.6 per cent said they were confident it will be fair,
according to Abu Ghazaleh.
She said the final results and an analysis will be issued in a booklet in
English and Arabic.