Lower House embarks on election bill debate

AMMAN — The Lower House on Sunday started a marathon debate over the 2015 draft elections law, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported. 

The House lowered the age for voting eligibility to 18 years, provided that the would-be voter turns that age 90 days before the date of the poll.

Meanwhile, the MPs deferred discussion over an article that bans members of the army and security agencies from voting, pending a clarification from the government regarding civilians employed by these institutions on a contract basis.

The version at hand also guarantees the right of a voter who lives out of his/her native district to be reregistered in the original district after applying in writing to the Independent Elections Commission within 14 days of the publication of the tentative voter lists.  

The session, which split into morning and afternoon meetings, was headed by Lower House Speaker Atef Tarawneh and attended by Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour.

The law, based on its mandating reasons, aims at enhancing political reform and enabling political powers to form blocs or election gatherings to elect a Lower House that represents the society's spectra. 

The premier described the bill as “progressive and democratic” and a key component part of the reform process led by His Majesty King Abdullah on all fronts. 

Ensour noted that the government is working on issuing a smart election card that is "highly credible" and almost impossible to forge, noting that the card has all the electoral data related to its holder.