Middle East News
Islamists report "violations" in Jordan polls (2nd Lead)
Nov 20, 2007, 15:45 GMT
Amman - The Islamic Action Front (IAF), Jordan's largest political party, alleged that there had been 'basic violations' in the country's parliamentary elections which opened earlier Tuesday.
'Basic violations have been spotted which affect the outcome of the polling process and the chances of the party's candidates,' the IAF Deputy Secretary General, Jamil Abu Bakr, told a press conference.
The IAF, the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood movement, is fielding 22 candidates out of the total 885 candidates vying for the house's 110 seats.
The government's official spokesman Nasser Judeh denied the charges, saying that what the IAF raised was nothing more than 'rumours which lacked evidence'.
However, he said that two cases of vote buying had been monitored and that two persons involved were referred to the judiciary.
Judeh put at 42 per cent the all-over vote turnout at 4pm, expressing the hope that the percentage would go up tangibly before the ballot boxes close at 7pm.
He said supervisors of ballot centres had the authority to extend voting for a further two hours if they deemed it necessary.
Judeh pointed out that, excluding minor incidents, the polling process was going on 'extremely satisfactorily'.
Prime Minister Marouf Bakhit cast his vote and told reporters that he expected the elections to produce a 'balanced lower house.'
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-AgenturCOMMENT
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