IEC to publish voter’s list ahead of parliamentary elections

AMMAN — The Independent Elections Commission (IEC) on Sunday contacted the Civil Status and Passport Department (CSPD) to obtain the voter’s list in preparation for the upcoming Parliamentary elections scheduled to take place on September 10.

On April 24, His Majesty King Abdullah ordered the holding of the elections for the House of Representatives, in accordance with the law.

The CSPD has seven days to comply with the commission’s request to hand over an electronic list that includes the names of Jordanians who are eligible to cast their ballots, according to a statement by the IEC.

The IEC added that it will publish the voter’s list on its social media platforms “to allow the public to access it,” according to the statement.

The IEC will also distribute the list to the municipalities, the CSPD offices in the Kingdom as well as the headquarters of the election committees in the electoral districts and their subsidiary offices.

IEC officials have recently said that the expected number of voters in the upcoming parliamentary will reach 5 million.

Officials have also said that the IEC will work to facilitate polling stations with equipment that would suit people with physical disabilities to facilitate their participation in the electoral process.

In 2022, the Senate and the Lower House passed the 2022 amendments to the Political Parties Law, which require political parties to increase the percentage 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.

During a visit in late April to the IEC, King Abdullah urged the IEC’s board of commissioners and staff to work to ensure the success of the electoral process, calling for zero tolerance of any violations.