46.5% of Jordanians expected to vote in local elections — survey

AMMAN — Eighty-four per cent of Jordanians are confident that the Independent Elections Commission (IEC) can administer the August 15 municipal and local elections, a study by the Civil Coalition for Monitoring Elections and the Performance of Elected Councils (Rased) showed on Saturday.

In a press conference held to announce the results of the study, Director General of Rased Amer Bani Amer said that the survey showed that 24.3 per cent of Jordanians are “highly interested” in the elections and 24.4 per cent are “moderately  interested”, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Bani Amer added that 19.8 per cent of citizens showed “little interest”, while 31.5 per cent of Jordanians said that they are “not interested” at all in the elections.

The study showed that 46.5 per cent of Jordanians are expected to vote in the elections, 29.3 per cent are not sure if they will cast their ballots, while 24.2 per cent said they will not take part in the elections, Petra noted.

The director general said that the study was carried out between August 5 and 8, with a sample of 2,078 voters from all governorates of the Kingdom, taking into consideration the geographic distribution and the representative power of each municipality or local council. 

The survey revealed that 38.4 per cent of those who confirmed their participation in the elections are “mainly interested” in casting their ballot for the post of mayor, while 34 per cent of the sample said that their first criterion in voting is family and tribal bonds.

The study also pointed out that 94.7 of citizens who responded to the survey expect to practise their right to vote in complete secrecy, according to Petra.  

Meanwhile, 48.3 per cent of voters think that decentralisation will have a “moderate to big impact” on the local development process.

Regarding the top priorities that successful candidates in municipal elections will have to address, 50.4 per cent of voters said that developing infrastructure is the top issue to be tackled, Petra concluded.