April 20 is deadline for political parties to rectify legal status — IEC

AMMAN — The Independent Election Commission (IEC) announced that April 20 will be the last day for political parties to rectify their legal status in preparation for the upcoming elections.

So far, 13 political parties have rectified their legal status, IEC Spokesperson Mohammad Rawashdeh told The Jordan Times.

The IEC official added that “there are currently 15 requests by political parties to rectify their legal status”.

“These parties have until May 14, which is the closing date for the registration of the political parties,” Rawashdeh added.

“We will examine the submitted papers to ensure that all were done in accordance with the law,” he added.

IEC officials have said recently that 41 Lower House of Parliament seats will be designated for political parties out of the 138 allocated seats, which represent around 30 per cent in the coming 20th Parliament.

The ratio will increase to 50 per cent for political parties in the 21st Lower House of Parliament, and will eventually reach 65 per cent by the 22th Parliament.

The IEC announced in March that a total of 4,918,772 citizens would be eligible to vote in the upcoming parliamentary elections.

The IEC stated that 53 per cent of registered voters are women, according to the government entity’s website.

The IEC also stated that 110,446 citizens did not obtain national identification cards.

Amman topped the number of voters with 1,888,953, followed by Irbid 870,939, then Zarqa 705,725. 

In 2022, the Senate and the Lower House passed the 2022 amendments to the Political Parties Law, which require political parties to increase the proportion of women and youth to at least 20 per cent within three years after their foundation.

There should be no less than 1,000 founding members of political parties, and at least 10 per cent should be women and young people between 18 and 35 years old, according to the new law. 

The law also allows university students who join political parties to engage in partisan activities on campus without any infringement on their rights, as a bylaw will be issued to regulate such activities. 

It also stipulates that a founding conference shall be held by the party within a year after meeting the requirements, where no less than a third of the party’s 1,000 founders shall attend, and must represent at least six governorates.   

The Political Parties Law, along with the Elections Law, has been revisited by the Royal Committee to Modernise the Political System as part of its mandate to achieve the envisioned political reform.