Voter turnout rate higher by 6.5% than that of previous local polls — IEC

AMMAN — The Independent Election Commission (IEC) on Wednesday announced the final results of the decentralisation and municipal elections.

Speaking to journalists, the commission's president, Khaled Kalaldeh, said the IEC's board of commissioners endorsed the decision of the special committees auditing initial voting results, which were announced instantaneously by heads of election committees.

A total of 6,622 men and women candidates competed for 2,444 seats on Tuesday.

Names of winners will be officially announced at the commission's website.

In Tuesday’s elections, Jordanians elected mayors, members of municipal councils as well as the governorate councils, which were elected for the first time under the Decentralisation Law.

Elected members of the governorate councils will replace assigned consultative councils for local executive councils, in a bid to enhance the oversight role of citizens and public participation in decision making as developmental planning and allocation of funds will be vested in the new councils.

Article 6 of the law stipulates that the Cabinet will appoint as members of the governorate council, upon a recommendation by the interior minister, no more than 15 per cent of the number of elected members, provided that one-third of this percentage is allocated to women, who also enjoy a 10 per cent quota of the elected members.   

The results will be announced in the Official Gazette, and candidates will be allowed to legally challenge the results within a two-week deadline. 

“Candidates can request recounting of votes and re-auditing voters lists via the judiciary,” Kalaldeh said.

Voting for the decentralisation and municipal elections concluded late Tuesday night with a 31.71 per cent voter turnout rate of 1,302,949 eligible voters.

Nearly 52 per cent of voters are men, while the rest were women. 

The IEC’s Spokesperson Jihad Momani said the voter turnout rate is higher than that of the previous local elections by 6.5 per cent.

The highest voter turnout was registered in Ajloun at 62.8 per cent, followed by Mafraq (59.8 per cent), Karak (57.14 per cent) and Jerash (56.91 per cent), while the lowest was in Amman city with only 17.56 per cent of eligible voters having cast ballots.

Regarding violations at the Central Badia District, where voting was cancelled, the IEC has to address the municipalities minister to assign a committee for six months to run municipal affairs until reelection takes place, Kalaldeh said.

Meanwhile, the Islamic Action Front (IAF) announced on Wednesday that three out of six of its candidates running for mayorship have won, including Ali Abu Sukkar in Zarqa city, and 25 candidates out of 48 have won membership of local councils.

For the Greater Amman Municipality council, five out of 12 candidates from the party won seats, according to an IAF statement, which added that the front’s winners include 11 women and non-members of the Islamist party who ran on its ticket. 

A father and a son who competed for local council seats of the Greater Irbid Municipality have both won, while a woman running for the local elections in Irbid won a women’s quota seat, while her husband failed in his pursuit, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.