Photo: Khalil Mazraawi Agence France-Presse Jordanians vote during the parliamentary elections at a polling station in al-Salt, near the capital Amman, on September 10, 2024.
Published at 1:58 p.m.
Jordanians voted Tuesday to elect their members of parliament amid a sluggish economy and war in the Gaza Strip, but the polls were marked by high abstention rates.
These are Jordan’s first elections since a new law was passed in January 2022 that increased the number of seats in parliament from 130 to 138, raised the quota for women from 15 to 18 and lowered the minimum age for candidates.
Polls closed at 7 p.m. (noon Montreal time) and results are expected within 48 hours.
“We doubt there will be any significant change” after the elections, said Issa Ahmed, a 65-year-old retiree at a market in Amman before the vote. “Our country is unfortunately surrounded by endless wars.”
Mohammed Jaber, a shop owner in Amman, also said that “people, who are concerned about the war in Gaza and the economic situation, do not know what the parties” can do to improve the situation.
After voting, Prime Minister Bicher Khasawneh said he hoped that turnout would not be affected by “the brutal Israeli aggression” in Gaza and “the Israeli escalation in the West Bank,” a Palestinian territory occupied by Israel since 1967.
According to the Independent Election Commission, turnout was 32%. Over the past decade, legislative elections have seen low turnout, around 30%.
The head of the European observation mission, Zeljana Zovko, said the vote had gone “without problems”.
Jordan, which borders Israel and the West Bank, has seen a decline in tourism since the start of the Gaza war more than 11 months ago, a sector that accounts for about 14 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP).
In addition, public debt is approaching $50 billion and unemployment has reached 21% in the first quarter.
Nearly half of Jordan's population is of Palestinian origin, and demonstrations have regularly called for the cancellation of the peace treaty since the start of the war.
Two days before the legislative elections, a Jordanian killed three Israeli security guards at a border crossing between Jordan and the West Bank.
“The economic situation, frankly, is getting worse and worse in terms of job opportunities, and wages are low with long working hours,” lamented Fayez al-Disi, a 21-year-old engineering student who came to vote.
Voters felt that no economic improvement would be possible as long as the war in Gaza continued.
Photo: Khalil Mazraawi Agence France-Presse A polling station was open Tuesday in the Palestinian refugee camp of al-Baqaa, near the Jordanian capital, Amman.
In any case, these elections are not expected to shake up the political chessboard in the kingdom, where the king retains the upper hand on strategic issues. It appoints the prime minister, can dissolve parliament, declare war or make peace.
Jordan became the second Arab country after Egypt to sign a peace treaty with Israel in 1994.
The kingdom is calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, where the war sparked by an attack by the Islamist movement Hamas on Israel on October 7 has entered its 12th month.
On Tuesday, about 1.6 million Jordanians voted out of 5.1 million registered voters, out of a population of 11.5 million, according to the electoral commission.
The Jordanian Parliament is bicameral. In addition to the 138 elected members of parliament, it has 69 senators appointed by the monarch. The assembly can withdraw its confidence in the government, approve and promulgate laws.
Among the candidates for the elections are representatives of the main tribes, centrists, supporters of the government, members of the left and the Islamic Action Front (IAF), the main opposition party.
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