By Mohammad Ben Hussein

AMMAN - Voter turnout in the November 20 parliamentary elections is expected to cross the 50 per cent mark, although the majority of Jordanians believe the 14th Parliament shirked its responsibilities, an exit poll revealed on Sunday.

"The public evaluation for the 14th Parliament was negative. The previous Lower House did not carry out its constitutional duties including scrutinising actions of the executive authority, legislation endorsement, reviewing public spending and voicing out public concern," said the study, conducted by the University of Jordan's Centre for Strategic Studies (CSS).

In comparison, the 1989 Lower House was the best of all parliaments that emerged after Jordan returned to democratic life that year, as far as the respondents were concerned.

According to the present study, 50 per cent did not believe the former Parliament was successful in doing its job and only 13 per cent said it was independent of outside interference. Around 80 per cent believe personal interest was the main factor influencing deputies' votes.

Despite this negative evaluation, as many as 52 per cent said they will take part in the polls, while eight per cent have not made up their minds yet, the survey showed.

This finding sends a positive message, said CSS' Mohammad Masri during a press conference.

"There is a crisis of trust between citizens and the Parliament, at the same time there is hope that change can take place, which explains why citizens insist on taking part in the elections despite lack of trust in the outgoing Parliament," he told The Jordan Times.

On the other hand, the majority of Jordanians are still not aware of the Parliament's duties. The study revealed that 73 per cent of respondents said House duties are mainly addressing economic issues including high prices, unemployment and poverty, as well as improving public services in the education and health sectors.

"The mentioned issues are not part of the Parliament's constitutional duties, but more or less part of citizens' problems," said the report.

Only 3.4 per cent said the Parliament is responsible for monitoring the government's policies and no more than 2.7 per cent pointed out that the Lower House's job description entails endorsement of proposed pieces of legislation.

The study was conducted between October 17 and November 2 on a sample of 1,722 respondents: 40.7 per cent of them were from Amman, 17.7 from Irbid and 15.4 from Zarqa, the largest three cities in terms of population.

The study was divided into two parts; the first focused on public evaluation of the 14th Parliament, its duties, political orientation, as well as names and districts of MPs. The second part tried to identify stands on the upcoming elections, in terms of participation, credibility and what considerations respondents base their selection of deputies on.

Masri believes the upcoming Parliament might do a better job compared to the 14th Parliament because the figures showed that 34 per cent of those who will vote will consider political and practical abilities of candidates when casting their ballots.

On the other hand, 47.2 per cent plan to vote for tribal candidates, while 10 per cent will vote for independent pro-government candidates and 8.5 per cent will choose contenders from the Islamic Action Front (IAF), according to survey's findings.

On vote buying, more than three-quarters said they were aware of the phenomenon, out of which 66.3 per cent said vote buying was taking place in their districts.

Meanwhile, the majority of respondents (54 per cent) expected the upcoming parliamentary polls to be fair and free, while 18 per cent said it will be rigged.

The study also revealed that 34 per cent of respondents said the July municipal polls were not tampered with.

The public was split on the most appropriate legislation to govern parliamentary elections, with 27 per cent saying the current one-person, one-vote system is the worst, and 22 per cent saying the 1989 Elections Law, which allows voters to choose a list of candidates to represent their districts, was the best.