Jordan's Lower House approves draft electoral law

Jordan's Lower House Amman – Osama Arrantissi Jordan's Lower House Legal Committee on Wednesday, endorsed the remaining provisions of the 2012 draft elections law, recommending a mixed electoral system that features a majority vote at the governorate level and a closed proportional list at the national level.
During a session headed by Balqa Deputy Mahmoud Kharabsheh, the panel reworded Paragraph C of Article 8 of the legislation, proposing that each voter will be given two votes: one for a candidate at the district level and another for a closed proportional list that will compete for 17 seats at the national level.
The government of former prime minister Awn Khasawneh, proposed a mixed electoral system, giving each voter three votes to cast for two candidates at the governorate level and one at the national level under a partisan proportional list system.
Several lawmakers said previously that the partisan proportional list system is against the Constitution which stipulates that all Jordanians should be treated equally, expecting the Legal Committee to replace it with a national proportional list.
On April 23, the Cabinet sent a question to the Higher Council for the Interpretation of the Constitution (HCIC), inquiring about the constitutionality of conducting parliamentary elections on the basis of a party list system.
The HCIC issued a verdict in May, ruling that confining the propositional list to political parties is unconstitutional as it should be open to all Jordanians.
Also on Wednesday, the panel endorsed Paragraph C of the said article as worded by the former government under which the number of Lower House seats at the governorate level will stand at 108, which will be contested in 45 constituencies in the Kingdom’s 12 governorates and the three Badia regions.
The panel also approved the allocation of 15 seats for the women’s quota under the former government’s amendments to Paragraph C of Article 8.
But the committee proposed that the total number of Lower House seats be raised to 140 from the suggested 138 as proposed by the former government.
The draft law will be listed on the agenda of the Lower House in next Sunday’s session.
During Wednesday’s session, the Lower House continued its deliberations over the temporary 2010 version of the Social Security Law, endorsing Article 2 of the legislation.