Ministry helping parties better manage election campaigns

AMMAN — The government on Sunday organised a conference to educate political parties on best practices to run successful election campaigns. 

During the two-day conference, participants are discussing how to organise election campaigns for party nominees, ways to run these campaigns, tools to help deliver parties' messages to voters and media outlets and means to administrate campaigns on Election Day, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Inaugurating the event, Minister of Political and Parliamentary Affairs Musa Maaytah noted that the Elections Law enables parties to work within parliamentary blocs after winning elections, which would contribute to building coalitions, paving the way to form parliamentary governments at a later stage, the minister added.

On the sidelines of the conference, Maaytah inaugurated a centre to follow up on parliamentary elections, tasked with clarifying and explaining the Elections Law through responding to enquiries of political parties and civil society institutions. 

In his key-note speech, the minister stressed that if stakeholders seek to effect change in the next Lower House, this should start with a high turnout on Election Day, slated for September 20. 

“Boycotting elections does not serve national and political interests”, especially at a time when the country is pursuing reform, he told his audience.

“Participating in the elections is more than a national duty; it is a constitutional and legal duty,” he reiterated. 

Voters bear the responsibility for the performance of the next Parliament, be it positive or negative, Maaytah said, especially since a core goal of political reform is to expand citizens’ participation in decision-making through exercising democracy and political pluralism through the ballot box.