Jordanians elect 18th Parliament today

AMMAN — Jordanians will head to polling stations today to elect members of the Lower House, as authorities declared total preparedness to conduct free and fair polls.

Spokesperson of the Independent Election Commission (IEC) Jihad Momani on Monday said all measures, from logistics to security, were in place to ensure the smooth administration of elections.

At a joint press conference with Col. Khader Al Khattab, head of the media department at the Pubic Security Department on the eve of the vote, Momani said members of the committee that is tasked with auditing and approving the preliminary voting results took oath on Monday.

The committee comprises 14 members “known for their integrity”, and headed by Mustafa Barari, former president of the Audit and Ombudsman bureaus.

Momani said preliminary results of the elections will be announced immediately after completing the counting process in each district, but the commission cannot specify the date of the final results until the entire process is completed.

As for the security measures on Election Day, Khattab said 30,000 officers had been already deployed to polling centres. In addition, police had set up one operation room in Amman, along with six others in the country’s regions, while police stations will be on alert to respond to emergencies. Citizens can call 911 for police help, he noted.

The Gendarmerie Department will deploy 50,000 officers to ensure security outside polling centres, it was announced on Sunday. 

Khattab said while being transferred from a polling centre to a counting station, ballot boxes will be accompanied by security personnel.

Cameras will also be installed after completing the voting process and the IEC will monitor the counting process, according to Momani.

According to updated IEC statistics, 4,130,145 Jordanians are eligible to vote. The IEC has provided 1,483 polling centres with 4,884 ballot boxes, the special ink and other materials. Up to 74,000 people will work in the polling centres, under the oversight of 13,398 accredited national observers, 676 international observers, 10,400 volunteers and 1,420 journalists (click here for more facts and figures).  

Meanwhile, Momani said the IEC registered 188 violations of the campaigning regulations committed by candidates, and some media outlets violated the regulations by publishing advertisements for candidates on Monday. He explained that Sunday was the last day for placing ads in different media outlets.

“We will not be lenient with any of those media outlets that violated the regulations,” he concluded.