294 lists registered for upcoming parliamentary elections — IEC

AMMAN — The Independent Election Commission (IEC) on Saturday said that the final count of the lists that were registered in preparation for the upcoming elections were 294.

The total number of registered candidates is 1,693, including 364 women, according to the IEC website.

Candidates can withdraw their nominations 10 days prior to the elections by submitting a written request, according to the IEC web page.

Last week, the IEC announced that it had detected over 400 violations committed by individuals who plan to run for the upcoming parliamentary elections slated for November 10, including around 50 reported cases related to financial irregularities.

The IEC Spokesperson Jihad Momani had told The Jordan Times in a recent interview that 16 cases are being handled by the judiciary and the rest are still being investigated. 

Financial irregularities, according to Momani, are practised mostly “by individuals planning to run in the elections who use social media to state that they are willing to offer money to buy votes”.

The IEC had announced that the 19th Parliament elections would be held on November 10, following a Royal decree in July directing the concerned authorities to hold parliamentary elections in accordance with the provisions of law. The Kingdom is divided into 23 constituencies. 

The IEC recently stressed that parliamentary elections will be held on time and all efforts are exerted to ensure the success of “this important democratic process in the smoothest and the most transparent manner, while ensuring the health, safety and security of the citizens”.

Some of the procedures adopted, according to the IEC, included ensuring that voters will register based on their place of residence rather than where their family was residing so that voters will be able to cast their ballots at the nearest polling station of their residency.

The IEC has also studied all scenarios related to the COVID-19 crisis and has adopted all the necessary health procedures that would ensure the safety of voters, candidates along with the officials and others who will be working at the polling stations.

The measures include testing all the officials and other individuals who will be stationed at the polling centres for COVID-19 ahead of the elections to ensure that no one is tested positive for the coronavirus, as well as distributing pens to each voter for health and safety purposes.