Parliamentary elections to be held on time — IEC

AMMAN — The Independent Election Commission (IEC) on Monday stressed that parliamentary elections will be held on time and all efforts are exerted to ensure the success of “this important democratic process in the smoothest and most transparent manner”.

“The elections will be held on time, but based on the health situation in the Kingdom, the IEC has the authority to designate a different date from that officially designated to hold the elections,” IEC Spokesperson Jihad Momani said.

The commission assigned October 6, 7, and 8 as the designated days for individuals to officially register to run for the elections that will be held on November 10.  A Royal Decree was issued recently directing the concerned agencies to hold parliamentary elections in accordance with the provisions of the law.

The IEC official told The Jordan Times that the IEC has the authority to assign a new date for the elections in one or more polling constituency if it deems “that the conditions in these areas are difficult or impossible to hold the elections and would cause harm to safety and security of the public”.

Earlier this week, Minister of Political and Parliamentary Affairs Musa Maaytah said the government is exerting its “utmost efforts” to ensure the success of the upcoming parliamentary elections by involving all citizens in the election process, especially the youth.

“We would like to emphasise that Parliament is the most important Constitutional body, whose role is to monitor the government’s performance and draft laws,” Maaytah told The Jordan Times in a recent interview.

Meanwhile, the IEC has adopted several measures in recent days to ensure that the process will be easy, smooth and safe for both voters and candidates.

One of the adopted procedures is ensuring that voters will register based on their residency rather than where their family was residing so that voters will be able to cast their ballots at the nearest polling station of their residency.

The IEC has also studied all scenarios related to the COVID-19 crisis and have adopted all the necessary health procedures that would ensure the safety of voters, candidates and the officials and others who will be working in the polling stations.

“We will test all the officials and other individuals who will be stationed at the polling centres for COVID-19 ahead of the elections to ensure that no one is infected,” Momani stressed.