299 members won governorate council elections — watchdog

AMMAN (JT) — The Civil Coalition for Monitoring Elections and the Performance of Elected Councils (Rased) on Saturday published a study showing that a total of 299 members won in the governorate council elections, including 36 women, 32 of whom won through quota.

The study revealed that two members — in the third constituency of Tafileh and the third district of Karak — won membership in the governorate council elections by default, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

A winner in Irbid’s 16th constituency collected the highest number of votes in the Kingdom with 11,437 votes, while a member in Balqa’s third district collected the lowest number, with 426 votes, according to Rased.

The average age of winners in governorate councils was 49.7 years, with the eldest member being 76 years old, who won a seat in Zarqa’a 10th district.

Three members — in Aqaba’s first district, Jerash’s first constituency and the third district of Ajloun — were the youngest with 26 years of age, the watchdog said.

The 50-54 age group registered the largest number of winners with 25.4 per cent, followed by the 55-59 age group, where winners constituted 16.3 per cent of the total number of winners.

Regarding professional backgrounds, 12.7 per cent of winners were military retirees, academia constituted 10.6 per cent, lawyers’ standings stood at 9.4 per cent, while engineers amounted to 5.7 per cent of the winners in governorate council elections.

As for the educational background, 41.1 per cent of winners hold bachelor’s degrees, 20.9 per cent hold master’s and PhDs and 6 per cent of winners hold degrees less than the General Secondary Education Certificate Examination (Tawjihi), according to the Rased study.