Low voter turnout challenges Jordan’s parliamentary elections

Candidates’ posters in Amman Amman – Osama Al Rantissi Jordan’s highly anticipated parliamentary elections have begun, with some 296,000 votes cast in poll stations across the country by 1130 hrs local time. Chairman of Jordan’s Independent Elections Authority, Abdel-Elah el-Khateeb, claimed that approximately 125,000 people had cast their vote within the first few hours of elections, which started at 0700 hrs this morning. The number reached 296,000 before 1200 hrs, although this only represented 13 percent of eligible voters nationwide, amounting to approximately two million citizens.
Electoral authorities calculated voter composition to represent around 174,000 men and 121,000 women by noon on Wednesday.
The country’s el-Kark governorate has so far received the highest attendance, el-Khateeb said in a press conference at Amman’s Royal Cultural Centre.
Some problems have emerged from the morning’s voting. El-Khateeb confirmed that some polling stations were not ready for the 0700 hrs start-time.
However objective observers had visited stations across the country and reported no irregularities.
Voting was taken place through a simple ballot paper system, according to the new electoral law in Jordan which requires citizens to vote for a list and constituency representative.
Jordanian Prime Minister Abd-Allah el-Nosoor cast his vote in the el-Basheery School in el-Sarw on Wednesday morning.
The Prime Minister called the elections “decisive.”
 “The coming parliament and government must be different to form a new phase for Jordan,” he said. “This is the vow we took, one that we managed to honour.”
El-Nosoor praised the Independent Elections Authority for its attempts to curb "all forms of corruption” and “electoral bribes,” adding that this year’s elections would resolve any question marks surrounding the integrity of Jordanian national elections.
According to law, the Prime Minister is required to submit his resignation on election day, to allow for the formation of a new government.
The Jordanian parliament is also scheduled to meet as Jordan’s King Abdullah II will deliver a speech, reportedly detailing how Jordan has been inspired by the “experience of 1956” – the year in which the country witnessed its first parliamentary government, headed by Soliman el-Nabolsy.
Zaki Bin-Rasheed, a senior Muslim Brotherhood leader inside Jordan, has meanwhile claimed it is “too early to describe the elections as free and fair” and will await developments regarding voter fraud and election results.