Jordan polls produce pro-government lower house

Nov 10, 2010, 12:31 GMT

Amman - Jordan's parliamentary elections prodced an overwhelmingly pro-government lower house, Interior Minister Nayef Qadi said Wednesday in announcing the official results.

He told a press conference that 78 deputies entered the 120-member House of Representatives for the first time, while 37 previous lawmakers failed to secure seats after Tuesday's elections.

Qadi said that 17 candidates won seats as representatives of political parties.

Out of the 763 candidates who ran the polls, 86 said they were competing as party members. The campaign had focused on internal economic and social issues, with few candidates citing foreign policy questions.

A handful of winning candidates representing small opposition parties or relying on tribal support could form an embryonic opposition in the absence of the influential Muslim Brotherhood movement and its political arm, analysts said.

Islamists boycotted the polls, citing a deficient election law, lack of political reforms and insufficient assurances from the government that there would be no repetition of the 'rigging' that happened in the 2007 polls.

'Those who sought to cast doubt on the polling process, have lost their credibility and did not achieve anything,' Qadi said.

He expressed satisfaction with the 53 per cent voter turnout, saying 'we have expected a much lower rate.'

The vast majority of the seats were clinched by politicians, academics and technocrats who mainly relied on tribal and family support.

Among the winning candidates was former prime minister Faisal Fayez, a tribal leader who is widely expected to become speaker of the new chamber.

Winners also included former foreign minister Abdullah Ensour and Mohammad Halaiqa, an ex-deputy premier for economic affairs.

A total of 13 women were elected to the new lower house, 12 of whom were elected under a quota set for women.

Reem Badran, daughter of former prime minister Mudar Badran, won a seat at an Amman constituency to become the second woman in Jordan's history to become member of the House of Representatives through direct competition with male candidates.

Despite recurrent pledges by the government of conducting fair elections, local human rights watchdogs and the press reported several cases of election fraud, including vote buying and false illiterate public voting.

The polling process was marred by sporadic acts of violence and post-election rioting in several localities throughout Jordan. Qadi played the incidents down, saying 'what happened can take place in any country in similar occasions.'

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