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Helping political life in the country

Sep 02,2015 - Last updated at Sep 02,2015

Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour unveiled the new elections law on Monday, announcing that the controversial one-man, one-vote system, used for decades, has been abolished, replaced by an at-large voting system whereby all candidates can run for Parliament on one large multi-member ticket.

Political parties and individuals of various shades of opinion in the country seem contented. The one-man, one-vote law has been viewed by many as a hindrance; now each voter can cast a number of ballots that is equal to the number of seats allotted for their district in the Lower House.

The widespread rejection of the one-man, one-vote system is not so much because there is anything inherently wrong with it, but rather because of the way it was used.

The one-man, one-vote principle gained currency during the decolonisation era, in the 1940s, 50s and 60s, when peoples in Africa and Asia fought for freedom and liberation from their colonial oppressors, seeking the one-man, one-vote method as an effective way to get political power that would free them from the yoke of oppression.

Self-rule became associated with one-man, one-vote, but in our case, the way it was applied made it unpalatable.

The rationale behind the one-man, one-vote system is that each voter gets equal voting rights. As long as voters had equal voting rights, it did not matter what the system was called; it should be the correct and just criterion.

Under the new legislation, voters in Jordan will continue to enjoy equal voting rights, based on an open proportional list at the district level.

The previous law, which gave each voter two votes — one for a candidate at the district level, the other for a closed proportional list whose members competed for 27 seats at the national level — was ruled, according to the prime minister, unconstitutional by the Higher Council for the Interpretation of the Constitution, now replaced by the Constitutional Court.

All other major features of the old law remain unchanged, including quotas for women, Christians, Circassians and Chechens.

The new legislation is certain to remain under close scrutiny.

 

It is hoped that it will be subject to periodic review, because only its application on the ground will test its positive features to the fullest.

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