Omar Zboun wins Jerash mayoral election

AMMAN — Omar Zboun won the Jerash mayoral seat in the city’s fifth district in an election held over the weekend, according to the Independent Election Commission (IEC).

The elections, held on Saturday, were intended to fill the vacancy following the passing of the city mayor in Bab Amman town (fifth district).

Candidates now have 15 days to contest the results at the concerned courts, the IEC announced in a statement that was made available to the press.

Voter turnout reached 64.17 per cent, representing 5,907 of a total 9,205 registered voters, according to the IEC Spokesperson, Mohammad Rawashdeh.

The IEC official told The Jordan Times that six people were referred to the prosecution office on allegations of “impersonating someone else's identity to cast ballots during the elections”.

“We also received several remarks from individuals who were monitoring the election process and journalists regarding alleged violations, which we immediately dealt with,” according to Rawashdeh.

He stressed that “these minor violations did not have any impact on the course of the election process or results”.

Meanwhile, the National Centre for Human Rights (NCHR) issued a statement praising the IEC’s handling of the election process.

“The NCHR formed a specialised team that was tasked with monitoring the elections and concluded that the elections were conducted with fair and proper procedures,” according to the NCHR statement.

The team provided the IEC with up-to-date comments and remarks during the election, the NCHR statement added.   

Local elections were held in March 2022. In these elections, 4,602,135 people, including 2,437,340 women, were eligible to vote.

A total of 1,363,465 citizens cast their ballots, with 15.56 per cent of men, and 14.08 per cent of women participating in the election, according to the IEC.

Final official numbers show that 4,644 individuals had registered to run for the election, including 846 women.

Per a Cabinet decision, governorate and municipal council elections will be held in November. 

The Cabinet also approved the Amman Municipal Council Election Law and electoral appeals for 2021. 

Shortly before the elections were held, His Majesty King Abdullah stressed the need to encourage popular participation in elections, especially among women and youth, pointing to the IEC’s role in political modernisation, as the recent constitutional amendments moved the political parties’ portfolio from the government to the IEC.

Calling for “zero tolerance” towards any violations that could affect the integrity and transparency of elections, King Abdullah urged that cooperation among all the concerned state entities be maintained to ensure a smooth electoral process.