US embassy cable - 03AMMAN4629

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 004629 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/24/2013 
TAGS: PGOV, PHUM, KDEM, JO 
SUBJECT: JORDANIAN MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS TO MOVE FORWARD JULY 
26, DESPITE CRITICISM 
 
REF: AMMAN 4189 
 
Classified By: PolCouns Doug Silliman for reasons 1.5 (B)(D) 
 
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SUMMARY 
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1.  (C)  Despite a petition endorsed by the Islamic Action 
front (IAF) and its allies in the Lower House of Parliament 
to delay municipal elections and review the electoral laws, 
the government has decided to move forward with the process 
on Saturday, July 26.  In Amman, low voter turn-out is 
expected and minimal enthusiasm is indicated by the dearth of 
campaign materials (i.e. posters, leaflets) in all districts. 
 END SUMMARY. 
 
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LOCAL ELECTIONS GOING AHEAD 
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2.  (U)  PolCouns and Pol Intern met July 22 with Minister of 
Municipal and Rural Affairs Abdul Razzaq Tbeishat to discuss 
Jordan's municipal elections.  A total of 1,643 candidates 
will run in 88 city, town, and village councils around the 
country.  These numbers are down slightly from earlier 
estimates of 1,760 candidates in 99 municipalities.  Members 
of the remaining 11 of the Kingdom's municipalities have 
already won uncontested, with the number of candidates 
equaling the number of seats.  In a press conference on July 
23, Tbeishat expected that more council seats will be won 
uncontested with the withdrawal of more candidates. 
Forty-six of the candidates are women. 
 
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MANY COUNCIL MEMBERS TO BE APPOINTED 
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3.  (C)  While 554 municipal council members are to be 
elected July 26, the government will appoint 441 others and 
all of the mayors (who will be chosen from either the elected 
or appointed council members).  Tbeishat said that in each 
district in which no woman is elected, at least one woman 
will be appointed.  (Comment:  A visiting democracy promotion 
expert told Pol Intern that the appointment of women first 
took place in the 1999 municipal elections at the behest of 
Princess Basma, sister of the late King Hussein and aunt of 
the current monarch.  End comment.) 
 
4.  (C)  After the elections, Tbeishat explained that the 
government plans to see which strategic professions/areas of 
expertise are underrepresented in each council and appoint 
members accordingly.  "If there's no engineer, we'll appoint 
an engineer.  If there's no doctor, we'll appoint a doctor." 
Tbeishat also said that losing candidates would not be 
included in the appointee selection pool.  The names of the 
appointed members will be announced by the Prime Ministry 
after the results of elected members are declared.  Putting 
both appointed and elected members on municipal councils, 
Tbeishat said, is meant to improve the services provided to 
citizens.  The GOJ is concerned that elected members will not 
have sufficient academic, professional, and technical 
backgrounds to execute their responsibilities skillfully. 
Tbeishat added rather defensively that the GOJ hoped to 
return to a system of elections for all municipal council 
seats "when we have achieved a good base of democracy." 
 
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ELECTION PROCEDURES 
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5.  (U)  In the 1999 municipal elections, voter turn-out 
exceeded one million.  However, officials estimate 
participation this year will be a good 21 percent lower.  One 
reasons, claims the government, is that voting rosters were 
cleaned, with duplicate names deleted.  All citizens will be 
required to present their national ID card to cast a ballot. 
Polls will be open from 0700 until 1700, and, according to 
law, officials supervising the electoral process can extend 
voting by an extra four hours during the first day if less 
that 51 percent of eligible voters participate.  If, after 
the four hour extension, voter turn-out does not exceed 51 
percent, the elections can be extended for a second day 
(Sunday) from 0700 until 1700.  The results will then be 
finalized and officially announced, regardless of the number 
of voters participating. 
 
6.  (C)  More than 3,000 employees of the Municipal Affairs 
and Interior Ministries will oversee the process, and the 
country's twelve governors will be responsible for the 
electoral process in their jurisdictions.  As with the 
Parliamentary elections on June 17, a central operations room 
will be functioning at the Ministry to update journalists on 
developments.  The only substantive difference between these 
elections and the Parliamentary elections appears to be the 
registration process.  For the municipal elections, the GOJ 
appointed a committee in each municipality to produce a 
definitive list of residents of that community for the voter 
poll.  It was through this process, Tbeishat explained, that 
"duplicate" names were removed. 
 
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COMMENT 
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7.  (C)  This will be Jordan's first municipal elections 
where half of all municipal council members are appointed by 
the government, as has long been the case in greater Amman. 
The change, introduced several months ago to the law 
governing municipalities, has drawn severe criticism from 
many parties -- particularly the IAF, which is boycotting all 
polls outside Amman.  The IAF has publicly demanded popular 
selection of council members and mayors (see ref).  The IAF's 
decision to run only in Amman may reflect an assessment of 
its comparative weakness outside the capital.  Said Tbeishat, 
"What, there's only democracy in Amman and not in the 
villages?!" 
 
8  (C)  News of and material for upcoming municipal elections 
has been scarce in both Arabic and English, perhaps an 
indication of the public's general non-interest in this 
latest round of voting.  The protest of some MPs against 
these elections will not strengthen the legitimacy of the 
elections in the minds of many voters. 
HALE