Jordan elects 100 new MPs

Jordan has elected 100 new members of parliament in an election that saw a record-low voter turnout, initial results unveiled yesterday show.

Current incumbents, including prominent political parties and businessmen suffered heavy losses in Tuesday’s election, the National reported.

Only 16 per cent of the incoming MPs will be members of political parties, in one of the lowest representations of the sector since 1989.

Meanwhile, the Islah coalition of Islamists, nationalists, independents and minorities, backed by the Muslim Brotherhood, lost nine seats, reducing their representation from 15 seats to a paltry six.

Female candidates also faced loses and, in the first time in a decade, failed to win a seat outside the 15-seat quota.

Tribal and independent candidates, however, made large gains and now make up the majority of the new parliament.

Only 30 incumbents, of 130 MPs, have retained their seats.

The election has been marred with a record-low voter turnout, with less than a third of the population choosing to vote.

Despite a late decision by election authorities to extend voting from 7pm to 9pm, only 29.9 per cent of the population turned out to vote.

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The percentage suggested only 1.3 million of the country’s ten million residents cast their ballots, the Jordan Times reported.

Tuesday’s election was also overshadowed by a recent spike in coronavirus cases, despite the country’s initial success at preventing the spread of the disease through tough lockdown measures.

Jordan recorded 91 deaths from the novel virus on Tuesday, bringing the country’s total toll to 1,386.

Several observers have claimed fear of coronavirus is why many Jordanians did not turn out to vote in the election.

Khaled Kalaldeh, chief commissioner for the state-run Independent Election Commission (IEC), told Reuters: “Fear of coronavirus has impacted the level of participation.”

Kalaldeh, however, defended the government’s decision to hold the election, despite the spike in coronavirus cases.

According to the Jordan Times, the commissioner said: “The government examined the situation carefully before making its decision to proceed with the election to ensure the continuation of the country’s democratic process.

“Our main concern was to ensure the protection of the election process and the success of the elections, and I believe we succeeded.”

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