Electoral commission responds to Rased report

AMMAN — The Independent Elections Commission (IEC) on Thursday clarified some points mentioned in a report released by the Civil Coalition for Monitoring Elections and the Performance of Elected Councils (Rased) on the next parliamentary elections.

IEC Spokesperson Jihad Momani said the IEC board of commissioners’ decision, which was published in the Official Gazette, to hold the elections on September 20 is clear in identifying it as the polling day, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Commenting on what the report described as “obliging” observers to report to the IEC on any violations that affect the election process, Momani said that all monitoring agencies that met with the commission have expressed their readiness to do so out of their concern to ensure transparency, integrity and neutrality.

Rased said the timing of releasing voter lists and receiving objections, which coincided with Ramadan and Eid Al Fitr holiday, limited voters’ ability to check and contest them. 

The IEC expressed its surprise over the observation, stressing that the law stipulates holding elections within four months of dissolving a Lower House. As such, the period for releasing preliminary voter lists and receiving objections could not be delayed.

Regarding the low number of contestations, the IEC said it is due to the fact that the preliminary voter lists of 2016 are the final lists of the 2013 elections after adding voters who reached 18 years old and those who regained their right to vote.

Momani said the IEC received some one million inquiries about polling centres and constituencies, which highlights public interest in the elections, Petra added.