Four winning candidates referred to courts for alleged vote buying — IEC

AMMAN — The Independent Election Commission (IEC) has announced that four winning candidates in the 19th parliamentary elections have been referred to the judiciary for alleged election violations.

IEC Spokesperson Jihad Momani told The Jordan Times that the four were referred to the concerned courts over allegations of vote buying.

“There are also other candidates who lost and were referred to the judiciary for questioning” for alleged vote buying, the IEC spokesperson added. 

If the four winning candidates end up being convicted and sentenced by a court for over one year, then their election results will be cancelled.

“It all depends on the courts and the types of sentence these individuals receive if they are convicted,” Momani said.

Meanwhile, Momani noted that candidates who failed to win in the elections have 15 days to contest the results once they are published in the Official Gazette.

The courts will issue a decision within 30 days from the time a candidate decides to contest a result, Momani added.

A total of 1,386,749 of the around 4.6 million eligible voters cast their ballots to elect their representatives from 1,674 registered candidates, including 360 women, according to the IEC.

Last week, Prime Minister and Minister of Defence Bisher Al Khasawneh stressed that Jordan has “succeeded in implementing the Constitutional entitlement by holding the parliamentary elections in an efficient manner and under an exceptional circumstance as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic”.

“Everyone worked with one responsible nationalistic spirit to implement this important entitlement, which will further enforce the democratic experience and the parliamentary elections is one of these entitlements under the vision of His Majesty King Abdullah,” the premier said during a Cabinet meeting.

The prime minister also praised the efforts of the IEC, which managed and supervised the entire electoral process “with great efficiency and responsibility despite the exceptional circumstances imposed on us by the COVID-19 pandemic”.

Elections to the 19th Parliament were held 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.