IEC keeps tabs on parliamentary candidates, detects 700 violations

AMMAN — The Independent Election Commission (IEC) on Wednesday said it had found over 700 violations committed by parliamentary candidates.

Jordanians will head to polling stations on November 10 to elect members of the 19th Parliament.

"Since the announcement of the elections, the IEC has dealt with 710 violations, including 100 incidents related to financial irregularities, or what is termed as 'black money'," IEC Spokesperson Jihad Momani told The Jordan Times.

The financial irregularities, according to Momani, are practised mostly "by candidates who use money to buy votes".

Of the 100 reported complaints, 20 cases are under investigation by the judiciary.

“The candidates in question can still run even if there is a complaint against them, and it is up to the judiciary to decide their fate once the investigations are over and a verdict is issued,” Momani said.

Meanwhile, the hundreds of violations were mainly committed by candidates who either did not abide by the IEC rules and regulations and included “improper content in their campaign ads, or violated the number of allowed individuals who should be present at their elections headquarters before they were ordered to close over health concerns”.

“We had some incidents where music bands were present and live ammunition was fired at some headquarters,” according to Momani.

Meanwhile, the IEC official said the final count of the lists that were registered in preparation for the upcoming elections were 294.

The total number of registered candidates now stands at 1,674, including 360 women, according to Momani. 

The IEC had announced that elections to the 19th Parliament 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 residency 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.