Young voters hope new parliament heralds ‘true change’

AMMAN — Young people who voted in the Lower House elections on Tuesday expressed their desire for new faces in parliament, whom they hoped would bring about a “true change” and tackle the problems facing Jordanians and the country.

Nancy Syouri, a young Aqaba resident, told The Jordan Times that she voted in the 2016 elections and this year, she hopes to see younger members in Parliament, who can manifest the visions they have in their programmes.

“I hope that the new members are capable of carrying their responsibilities. We do not need ‘service members of parliament’, whose only job is to benefit their inner circle by providing incentives. What we need is MPs who understand legislation and their supervisory roles,” Thekra Almomani, a third-time voter, told The Jordan Times over the phone.

Almomani, who voted in the first electoral constituency in Amman, where she also worked as an observer with Rasheed (Transparency International-Jordan), said that the problems she wishes to see solved in the upcoming parliament are regarding the political and legislative knowledge and expertise of the MPs.

“We need parliament members who understand their actual role and how laws work, who have enough expertise, for us to have faith in them and ensure they really understand how to serve the people through legislation,” she added.

Ala’ Albtoush, who voted in the first constituency in Karak, said: “I hope the 19th Lower House carries the hopes and aspirations of the Jordanian people, unlike the previous houses, which I feel have not brought any true impact.”

Albtoush said that the problem she believes the new House should focus on is unemployment, which she said is increasing and gravely affecting youth, and thus should be a priority issue.

Monya Aloran, who voted in the first constituency in Tafileh and also an observer with Rasheed, told The Jordan Times: “I hope that the promises we see in the campaigns manifest into reality. We need a Lower House with young MPs, who can voice youth’s problems.”

“I think the new Lower House needs to focus a lot on the tourism and health sectors, especially because they were impacted greatly during COVID-19 and they need a lot of work. I hope the candidates who spoke about assisting these sectors actually do it once they win the seat,” she added.

“The 19th Lower House has a lot of problems to focus on, namely combating corruption and tackling unemployment,” Abdullah Alshar’a, who voted in Mafraq, said on Tuesday over the phone.

Media supervisor at INJAZ Hadi Qallab, who voted in Amman, told The Jordan Times that the Kingdom is going through difficult conditions on the political, economic and social fronts due to the coronavirus crisis, and thus the 19th Lower House has a lot of responsibilities to shoulder.

“The House needs to focus on issues related to youth in regard to education, health and unemployment, especially in light of the major changes facing the Kingdom and the world this year,” Qallab said.

The House needs to understand people’s needs and encourage the government to strongly seek programmes that invest in youth and boost their vocational skills and innovation to create new projects.