US embassy cable - 03AMMAN4737

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 004737 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/30/2013 
TAGS: PGOV, PHUM, KDEM, SOCI, JO 
SUBJECT: JORDAN'S MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS: CONTROVERSY, 
INDIFFERENCE, ISOLATED VIOLENCE 
 
REF: A. AMMAN 4251 
     B. AMMAN 4189 
 
Classified By: PolCouns Doug Silliman, per Reasons 1.5 (b) and (d). 
 
1.  (C)  Summary:  Jordan's municipal elections concluded 
July 27 with little fanfare but some controversy.  Despite 
the efforts of the Islamic Action Front (IAF) to seek delay, 
more than 80 percent of municipal councils held contested 
elections over the weekend.  The IAF remained firm in its 
insistence that the voting was marred by instances of voter 
fraud and procedural irregularity, which the government 
characterized as an example of the IAF's predictable 
anti-government line.  In two instances, election-related 
violence disrupted what were generally orderly and peaceful 
days of voting.  A mediocre turn-out reflected public apathy 
for the new structure of the municipal councils system, which 
marries elected officials with technocratic appointees.  End 
Summary. 
 
---------------------------- 
Procedure, Process & Results 
---------------------------- 
 
2.  (U)  Prior to the polls, the IAF initiated a petition to 
postpone the elections so newly elected MPs could review the 
temporary Municipal Elections Law that authorizes the Cabinet 
to appoint up to 50 percent of municipal council members and 
all mayors (ref A).  Despite this protest, the IAF 
participated in Amman municipality elections and boycotted 
the rest of the country.  In Amman, four of its 11 candidates 
won seats (ref B).  In 1999, the party secured five seats on 
the capital's city council. 
 
3.  (U)  Voter turn-out approached 58 percent in the 82 
cities and town that held polls, officials announced July 28. 
 Voter turn-out in tribal and rural areas was higher than in 
major cities.  Analysts say the elections were characterized 
by the absence of political rivalry and the domination of 
tribalism in most districts.  In a July 28 press conference, 
Minister of Municipal Affairs Abdul Razzaq Tbeishat announced 
that the highest turn-out of 81 percent was registered in 
Jerash Governorate, while the lowest participation was 28 
percent in Zarqa. 
 
4.  (U)  1,608 candidates competed for 402 seats in 82 
municipal councils.  Among the 46 women running in the 99 
municipalities' elections, five won seats.  152 candidates in 
17 districts won seats in uncontested elections.  The 
approximately half of the remaining council members and all 
mayors will be appointed by the government and announced 
shortly.  Officials will appoint a woman to each municipality 
in which women failed to win seats. 
 
5.  (U)  In Greater Amman, voting was extended for a second 
day in 13 out of the capital's 20 districts due to low 
turn-out.  96 candidates competed for 20 council seats, 
including a woman who withdrew.  Around 46 percent of the 
capital's 306,418 voters participated.  This turn-out trumped 
those of the previous two municipal elections in 1999 and 
1995, when 41 percent and 35 percent of eligible voters case 
their ballots, respectively. 
 
------------------- 
Voice of Opposition 
------------------- 
 
6.  (U)  The IAF called July 28 for the government to scrap 
the results of the elections in Greater Amman, alleging that 
the electoral process had been tarnished by violations 
ranging from vote rigging to interference by security forces 
at polls to government efforts to change the composition of 
certain balloting committees prior to the elections.  The 
opposition claimed that eligible voters with stamped family 
books could not locate their names in the voting rosters at 
polling stations.  IAF Secretary-General Hamzeh Mansour told 
one paper a day earlier that "many voters voted more than 
once.  Some voters went to the ballot box five times." 
 
7.  (U)  Regarding his party's decision to participate in 
Amman despite calls for review of the Municipal Election Law, 
Mansour stated, "we participated with 11 candidates because 
(Greater Amman's election law) -- since its endorsement -- 
stipulates appointing 50 percent of the council members in 
addition to the mayor.  But applying this same system to the 
other municipalities was newly introduced and has not been 
endorsed by Parliament."  A sign of the IAF's displeasure 
with the electoral system, Mansour remarked July 28 that 
"citizens used to elect their candidates at a time when 
Jordan was under the British mandate...  Now we are living in 
the third millennium, and the government still thinks that 
people are not qualified or equipped enough to elect all 
municipal council members."  Mansour was quoted in the July 
29 issue of the Jordanian daily, al-Arab al-Yawm, saying the 
IAF will provide documents proving the government rigged the 
Amman elections. 
8.  (U)  GOJ officials insisted the electoral process was 
fair and transparent and invited all person with complaints 
to the employ the Jordanian judicial system for resolution. 
Meanwhile, the Petra News Agency reported July 27 that some 
citizens complained of not having their names correctly 
indicated on voters' lists.  Others said their correct 
national numbers were not on the list, making them ineligible 
to vote.  The government, for its part, accused the IAF of 
playing its usual game of attacking and undermining official 
policy, without hard evidence or thorough investigation. 
 
----------------- 
Isolated Violence 
----------------- 
 
9.  (U)  As in the June parliamentary elections, the 
municipal elections passed with minimal violence.  The most 
serious case involved two injuries in a dispute between 
supporters of two rival candidates in the Southern Shouneh 
disrict of the Jordan Valley on July 26.  Violence flared as 
supporters of the leading candidate started "teasing 
supporters of those who lost," according to Balqa Governor 
Thamer Fayez on July 27.  Those accused of opening fire were 
in police custody for questioning, said Fayez in a press 
interview, while those wounded were in stable condition. 
Authorities deployed at the scene of the skirmish, while 
local deputies started tribal mediation  efforts to reach a 
reconciliation between the two sides.  On the same day, a car 
was reported damaged in the Jordan Valley community of Deir 
Allah -- an act also attributed to electoral disputes. 
 
-------------- 
Public Opinion 
-------------- 
 
10.  (U)  The Jordan Times informally gauged public opinion 
in its July 28 issue, finding that regardless of personal 
attitudes toward the new hybrid electoral system, obtaining 
governmental services remains more important than issues of 
political structure for ordinary citizens.  Some opponents of 
the mixed council system fear that appointees will come from 
other areas, making them less qualified than elected members 
that know their constituency and can relate to citizens and 
their needs.  Proponents, however, believe that communities 
do not need local notable citizens but educated people with 
sufficient expertise to ensure the best performance. 
 
11.  (U)  Deputy Mayor of Amman Abdul Rahim Biqai told the 
press on July 28 that complaints of far-from-efficient public 
sector performance were "understandable" but linked the slow 
pace of development with a fast-increasing population growth 
rate in the capital.  Both Tbeishat and Biqai expect 
municipal work to gain momentum after the elections, with 
Biqai promising a "package of services" to Greater Amman 
residents. 
 
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Comment 
------- 
 
12.  (C)  While there are doubts about the new, hybrid 
municipal councils structure, the population is more 
interested in the delivery of services than in who delivers 
them.  The IAF's opposition to the structure is perhaps less 
a function of the group's displeasure with the 
de-democratization of the country than it is a comment on its 
lack of broad-based, grass-roots support outside Amman. 
 
13.  (C)  While there were probably procedural violations 
during two days of polling, like the parliamentary elections, 
we do not believe they were widespread enough to change the 
election results.  As with the parliamentary elections, it 
was the legal basis of the municipal elections that steered 
the results toward the government, not the procedures 
themselves. 
 
14.  (C)  Voter apathy, reflected in the 58 percent voter 
turn-out rate, and the much lower rates in major urban 
centers, derives in part from opposition to the hybrid 
council structure, weariness after the recent parliamentary 
elections, and a general feeling among Jordanians that, 
elected or appointed, council members will serve their own 
interests before those of their constituents.  End Comment. 
GNEHM