IEC refers candidate, voter to prosecutor for violating election law, regulations

AMMAN — The Independent Elections Commission (IEC) on Tuesday said it had referred a candidate and an individual who reportedly violated the elections law in two separate incidents earlier in the day.

IEC Spokesperson Mohammad Rawashdeh said that a candidate in Karak was referred to the concerned prosecutor for questioning after one of his supporters allegedly fired live rounds while he was giving his opening speech.

“A hooded man started shooting in the air when the candidate was delivering a speech to announce his candidacy for the Parliamentary elections,” Rawashdeh told The Jordan Times.

The suspect was arrested by the authorities shortly after allegedly shooting live rounds, according to Rawashdeh.

Therefore, the IEC added, the candidate was also referred to the prosecution for further questioning.

The parliamentary elections are slated to take place on September 10.

In the second incident, the IEC said in a press statement that a man was referred to the prosecution after allegedly calling on voters in Mafraq to claim to be illiterate and to utter a certain candidate's name in public when voting on September 10.

The IEC stated that it referred the man to the prosecutor after viewing a video clip that surfaced on social media with the alleged incident.

This is a grave violation of the Elections Law since casting a ballot should be done secretly and directly, according to the IEC statement.

In the event that someone wrongfully claims to be illiterate and the matter is exposed, the IEC added, the penalty for such violation is imprisonment from three months to one year and/or a JD200 to JD500 fine.

The IEC urged the public to report any election violations to the concerned authorities.

The IEC had recently stated that the total number of candidates running in the 18 electoral districts is 945.

Meanwhile, the number of candidates running for the general constituency was 686.

The IEC had said that the final number of eligible voters for the upcoming Parliamentary elections was 5,115,219, including 2,689,926 females, which represent 52.5 per cent of the total voters.

The statement added that the number of eligible voters who will cast their ballots for the first time was 590,794.

Meanwhile, the number of eligible voters who are under 25 years old was 1,119,832, while the number of voters who are under 35 was 2,323,478, according to the IEC statement.

The IEC also stated that voters can check their ballot polling stations, location, and the number of the polling box by visiting the website www.iec.jo or by contacting the hotline number 117100 or via free text messages at the number 94455.