By Khetam Malkawi

AMMAN - His Majesty King Abdullah on Tuesday instructed the government to amend the Elections Law in preparation for the upcoming parliamentary elections.

In a letter to Prime Minister Nader Dahabi, the King stressed that these elections “should be a model of transparency, fairness and integrity, and a promising step in our process of reform and modernisation, the aims of which are to achieve the best for our nation and to expand the horizon of progress and prosperity for Jordanians".

"In order to achieve this objective, we hereby give you the responsibility of taking the necessary steps, foremost of which is amending the Elections Law,” the King said.

He also directed the government to develop the electoral process “in such a manner that the next legislative elections will be qualitatively improved and all Jordanians will practise their right to campaign and to elect their representatives in Parliament".

The government is authorised to enact temporary laws under Article 94 of the Constitution, which stipulates: "In cases where the National Assembly is not sitting or is dissolved, the Council of Ministers has, with the approval of the King, the power to issue provisional laws covering matters which require necessary measures which admit of no delay or which necessitate expenditures incapable of postponement. Such provisional laws, which shall not be contrary to the provisions of the Constitution, shall have the force of law, provided that they are placed before the Assembly at the beginning of its next session."

Opposition leaders across the spectrum hailed the decision and called for new, fair and free elections on the basis of a revised elections law (see story on page 3).

Linked to decentralisation

Analysts, intellectuals and former lawmakers agreed that the Elections Law is likely to be amended in connection with the decentralisation law, which they expect to be endorsed as a temporary law during Parliament's suspension.

Former Deputy Mamdouh Abbadi said: "I believe the government will endorse the decentralisation legislation as a temporary law, and to conduct elections for the governorates' councils before amending the Elections Law."

However, Abbadi said such a process cannot be completed within the four-month time frame for electing a new Parliament as stipulated in the Constitution, implying that the dissolution of Parliament may be extended as sanctioned under Article 73, Paragraph 4 of the Constitution, which allows such an extension under extraordinary circumstances.

Political analyst Abdullah Abu Rumman agreed with Abbadi that the government is likely to endorse the decentralisation bill before the new election, noting that the proposed law entails a major change in the role of deputies.

Under the decentralisation law, governorates will be represented by councils, which Abu Rumman said will allow parliamentarians to focus on their national legislative and monitoring roles rather than securing services for their constituents. He said the government should make "qualitative improvements" to the Elections Law in order to ensure that deputies remain focused on their constitutional roles.

Al Ghad newspaper columnist Samih Maaitah also noted a link between the decentralisation plan and possible amendments to the Elections Law.

“No one can guess now what the expected modifications to the Elections Law are. But the upcoming law might be connected to the decentralisation plan,” Maaitah told The Jordan Times on Tuesday.

“If this was the scenario, the number of House representatives should be decreased, as the governorates will be represented in the governorates' councils according to the proposed decentralisation law,” he added.

However, Maaitah said a strong political reform programme requires a strong government that can prepare for better elections, and expressed doubt that the current government is “strong enough to do so”.

"We have experienced the work of this government over the past two years, and there has been weakness in its performance. It has had internal and economic problems," he said, adding that a Cabinet reshuffle alone will not solve the problem.

Saad Hayel Srour, a member of the recently dissolved Lower House, said: “The current law makes deputies hostages to demands for services from their constituents, and people have started to judge them based on what they provide for them and not on their legislative and monitoring performance.”

Changes to Elections Law

Srour told The Jordan Times yesterday that the Elections Law is one of several factors negatively impacting the quality of the Parliament, adding that redistributing seats among the electoral districts might help improve the chamber's performance.

Meanwhile, other analysts and deputies called for cancelling the one-person, one-vote system.

In August 1993, Parliament passed an amendment to the Elections Law that adjusted Jordan’s electoral system to the principle of “one-person, one-vote”. The law ended the previous voting system, under which voters were entitled to as many votes as the number of parliamentary seats allocated for their district.

Former deputy Azzam Hneidi, a member of the Islamic Action Front, called for a “democratic and modern” law, suggesting that the current formula be replaced with a voting list system, under which citizens would vote for slates of candidates rather than individuals.

“If we want to have better legislative and monitoring performance in future Parliaments, the proposed elections law should end the one-vote system and the elections should be transparent, without the vote rigging that happened in some of the previous elections,” Hneidi told The Jordan Times.

Political analyst Oraib Rentawi warned that if the elections are conducted under the current system, the faces in Parliament may change but the performance will not.

Rentawi also called for establishing a higher commission to monitor the elections.

“Monitoring the elections should not be under the authority of the Ministry of Interior. There should be a high commission that monitors elections to avoid any attempt at fraud,” Rentawi explained.

Abu Rumman said, however, that election monitoring commissions are only formed in countries that are experiencing civil conflict, asserting that there is no need for such a measure in Jordan and calling the allegations of vote rigging in the last election "baseless".

A Royal Decree was issued on Monday to dissolve the Lower House as of Tuesday, November 24.

A separate decree ordered that legislative elections be held in accordance with the existing Elections Law. No date has been set for the early vote. The Cabinet, which replied to the King’s letter vowing free and fair elections, met last night, but did not announce a date for the new polls.