‘No violations, chambers of commerce elections in order’ — IEC chief

AMMAN — Members of the commerce chambers across the Kingdom elected their representatives in elections described by the chief of the Independent Election Commission (IEC) as “strict” and “tamper-proof”.

No violations, evidence of forgery or tampering was found at any of the polling centres across the Kingdom, IEC President Khaled Kalaldeh said on Saturday. 

In the statement carried by the Jordan News Agency, Petra, Kalaldeh said that the voting process at the Amman Chamber of Commerce was slow, but only because the IEC had tightened its regulations.

The Amman chamber witnessed the lowest voter turnout at 22.9 per cent, which prompted a one-hour extension.

Meanwhile, in Zarqa, Irbid and Madaba, the turnout stood at around 58 per cent, 55.7 per cent and 64.9 per cent, respectively.

The Jordan Chamber of Commerce, however, saw 242 more voters turn out, the president noted.

New measures were set for voter eligibility, he explained, particularly for Amman’s chamber polls.

These measures included verifying registration papers and professional licences, in addition to the identities of business owners coming in to vote.

Earlier, the commission received two complaints on 27 voters casting their ballots in Rusaifa bearing counterfeit deputation documents, and two others in Madaba, according to Kalaldeh.

There were no deputised ballots cast in Rusaifa, the president pointed out, while the alleged counterfeit deputised ballots cast in Madaba turned out to be perfectly in order, he concluded.

In regards to why the ballot count was conducted manually, Kalaldeh explained that the commission “still needs to restore confidence in the electoral process”. 

More so, he added that the infrastructure for digitalisation and automation does not exist, nor does the legislation for digitalising the ballot counting process.

Kalaldeh confirmed, nonetheless, that the IEC is indeed planning to digitalise not only the ballot count process, but also the voting process itself.

He also reaffirmed that the commission is ready to respond to any inquiries or allegations — with documents — to prove the transparency of the elections.

The polls were slated for last Saturday, but the low turnout at the time resulted in their being rescheduled for Friday.

Under the 2003 Temporary Law of Chambers of Commerce, the loss of quorum is grounds for rescheduling.

The final turnout for the remaining chambers across Jordan came in as follows: Rusaifa at 16.16 per cent, Ajloun at 30 per cent, Aqaba at 45.8 per cent, Salt at 21.96 per cent, Jerash at 32.71 per cent, Mafraq at 19.19 per cent, Karak at 31.9 per cent, Tafilah at 61.19 per cent, Maan at 40.49 per cent, Southern Mazar at 47.82 and Southern Shouneh at 7.43 per cent.