4,646 candidates to compete in local elections — IEC

AMMAN — The Independent Election Commission (IEC) on Tuesday day said the final number of registered candidates who will run for the governorate and municipal elections later this month is 4,646, according to an IEC spokesperson.

“We had one candidate who contacted the IEC call centre in late February to learn of ways to withdraw and was not conveyed the proper information,” IEC spokesperson Mohammad Rawashdeh said.

He added that the IEC officials reverted to the recorded phone call and based on it “they accepted his withdrawal”.

“Of the 4,646 candidates, 846 are women,” Rawashdeh told The Jordan Times.

The elections are slated to take place on March 22 whereby the registered candidates will compete for a total of 1,135 seats.

The IEC official said there were 652 total election violations during the campaigns, such as starting the campaigns early by using posters or through the media.

In addition, there were 34 breaches related to the alleged “use of money to influence voters”, but they were investigated and the cases were closed “because the IEC did not find any violations”, Rawashdeh said.

 According to the IEC official, the “majority of these violations did not have any direct effect on the candidacy and elections process”.

Some 4,602,135 people, including 2,437,340 women, are eligible to vote in the upcoming elections.

There will be 1,845 polling stations that will, for the time, contain 6,907 ballot boxes. The number could decrease or increase based on future needs.

Earlier this month, the IEC announced that 13.3 million ballot papers were printed with security marks for the upcoming elections with three colours: One for the city council presidency seat, one for the city council membership seat and one for the governorate seat.

The Cabinet decided to hold governorate and municipal council elections in November. 

The Cabinet also approved the Amman Municipal Council Election Law and electoral appeals for 2021.