Campaign slogans ring hollow in run-up to elections — observers

AMMAN — With less than two weeks for the upcoming parliamentary elections, critics and experts described the candidates’ slogans and programmes as “general, redundant and service-oriented”.

Former Jerash MP Wafa Bani Mustafa said the slogans and programmes of the lists are general and lack the means of accomplishing them on the ground.

“The slogans are general such as ‘Citizens dignity’ and ‘What is coming next will be better’. If you think of the content, they cannot be accomplished and there are no clear implementing programmes to explain how these slogans will be achieved or how they would affect people’s lives,” Bani Mustafa said.

In addition, Bani Mustafa told The Jordan Times that many of the slogans, especially in the governorates, “are service oriented rather than focusing on a political reforms agenda, while others are just a repetition of their previous slogans in previous elections”.

She pointed out that some candidates are adopting “independent slogans, rather than abiding by their lists and you see that clearly when you look at posters of independent candidates that are in the streets”.

“I believe that many of the candidates are careful not to use slogans that they would be asked about once they are elected,” Bani Mustafa said.

Al Hayat Centre for Civil Society Development (Rased) Director General Amer Bani Amer agreed with Bani Mustafa saying that the general slogans are meant to protect the candidates from any future questioning by their voters.

“The weak performance of the previous Lower House and their inability to fulfil many of their pledges created a reluctant atmosphere among the candidates to come up with any promising slogans that they might not be able to meet and would instead be held accountable for it,” Bani Amer said.

In addition, Bani Amer said there are around 100 former MPs, including 18 women, who are running for the elections this time.

“Most of these candidates did not come up with any new slogans because they are using their old slogans,” Bani Amer told The Jordan Times.

The Independent Election Commission (IEC) last week said that the final count of the lists that were registered in preparation for the upcoming elections were 294.

The total number of registered candidates are 1,693, including 364 women, according to the IEC website.

“Around 80 per cent of these candidates are not affiliated to any political party, and therefore, do not have any specific goal because they do not follow any specific ideology,” Bani Amer said.

Meanwhile, Director of the Phenix Centre for Economic Studies Ahmad Awad said very few of the list and their members announced objectives related to public policies, whether in the fields of education, health and economy.

“Some of what is proposed by some candidates lists carry contradictory statements and objectives to satisfy all voters,” Awad told The Jordan Times.

One of the lists, Awad maintained, declared that “it wants an economy led by the private sector, and at the same time calls for achieving social justice and strengthening social protection”.

“The majority of the candidates’ lists are focused on publishing their photos, and sometimes attaching them to short slogans that are meaningless, such as the homeland for all, improving education and health, etc,” Awad added.

International Labour Organisation’s Gender Technical Specialist Reem Aslan said that MPs should focus their slogans on ensuring that the government meets its obligations to the ratified international labour conventions, and ILO standards, including gender.

“This should not be difficult to achieve by Jordan, a country that is relatively advanced in gender-related labour and social protection legislation,” Aslan told The Jordan Times. 

During COVID-19, it is important that parliamentarians give special focus to all care and health workers, making sure they are provided with safe and decent work conditions as well as fair wages, Aslan said.

The IEC had announced that the 19th Parliament elections would be held on November 10, following a Royal decree in July directing the concerned authorities to hold parliamentary elections in accordance with the provisions of law. The Kingdom is divided into 23 constituencies.