No reason to delay enactment of elections law — minister

AMMAN — The Lower House will hopefully endorse the 2015 parliamentary elections law in February or sometime during the first quarter of 2016, a senior official has said.

“Logically, lawmakers should pass the elections law in February. The draft the government has referred to them is  straightforward and not at all controversial and it serves the purpose,” Minister of Political and Parliamentary Affairs Khaled Kalaldeh has said in a recent interview with The Jordan Times. 

The minister said that the draft elections law the government has referred to the House was drafted after one-and-a- half years of revision of all the related literature and electoral systems applied worldwide.

“While writing the law, the technical committee put on the table the National Agenda, Jordan First Document, We are All Jordan Document, the outcomes of the (2011) National Dialogue Committee, the 1989 and 1993 elections laws as well as the electoral systems in emerging democracies in Eastern Europe and Latin America.”

“I myself reviewed 113 electoral systems applied worldwide while the law was being drafted.”

The left-leaning minister explained that the major focus during the preparation phase was centred on finding the best electoral formula that ensures the best, widest and fairest representation of population segments and political powers in the House.

“The most important conclusion reached after the revision was that the previous elections laws encouraged the use of ‘black money’ and not ‘political money’ as it is misconceived in Jordan.”

Kalaldeh explained that political money refers to receiving funds for election campaigns and it is legal and legitimate while black money means vote buying.

“To avoid previous mistakes, we proposed the propositional list at the governorate level.”

Under the 2015 elections bill, the number of Lower House members has been reduced to 130 from 150, based on the open proportional list at the district level.

The new law is based on an at-large voting system in which all candidates can run for parliamentary elections on one large multi-member ticket.
Under Article 9 of the law, eligible voters will have a number of votes equal to the number of seats allocated for their district in the Lower House. 

“As is the case all over the world,” Kalaldeh explained, the government technical committee’s choice of the best electoral system was based on the geographical, demographic and developmental realities of each governorate and electoral districts.

“The proportional representation is the best electoral system especially in countries moving towards a full-fledged democracy.”

Asked about the government’s declining popularity especially since it is widely perceived as a “money collector” due to its trend to increase prices and taxes, Kalaldeh said, “A lot of injustice has been practised against Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour’s government. 

“The government has been the target of systematic campaigns launched in media and social networks by influential persons whose interests have been affected by the government’s daring decisions and its firmness in applying the law.”

He said that the government has sealed more than 950 illegal wells and stopped more than 15,000 violations on electricity networks. “It is natural to see such violators take it out on the government.”

“For a long time, Queen Alia Airport and hotels in Dead Sea used to buy water from thieves who were stealing water” from the public network. 

Kalaldeh also said that increasing prices has “never been the only economic policy and it is misperceived”, adding: “The government is overwhelmed with misconceptions and stereotypical judgments.”

“The government has lowered prices of fuel derivatives and the tax on clothes and basic food items, and therefore prices in the local market should go down.  But traders never reconsidered the prices of items they sell.”

He explained that the government cannot interfere in imposing price limits on dealers because this would be a violation to the free market policies and “literally reinstating the totalitarian market”, adding, “Civil society organisations and customer protection activists should be the ones who monitor prices”.

Political reform 

On political reform process, Kalaldeh said in addition to legislation to develop political life and boost democracy in the Kingdom, there should be a culture that promotes democracy. 

Democracy should come from the house, schools and universities, he said. 

On the relation between the government and MPs, particularly after a wave of tensions over the recent government decisions to raise fees and prices, Kalaldeh said the chamber and the government are on “excellent” terms, adding that differences should be the norm.