Vote turnout exceeds 50% one hour ahead of ballot closure

AMMAN (JT) - Jordanians continued to cast their ballots Tuesday evening to elect the 16th Parliament.

By 6pm, voter turnout stood at 50,3 per cent, elections spokesperson Samih Maaytah announced, with North Badia district witnessing the highest, at 80.2 per cent, and Amman the lowest, at 31 per cent, one hour ahead of the closure of ballots.

Officials are authorized to extend the period by two hours if turnout in certain areas is too low or if a relatively high number of voters shows up at election centers in the last hour of the vote.

The capital apparently saw higher voter participation in the afternoon hours; at 1:20pm, 18 per cent of the voters had cast their ballot, but at 4pm, the turnout had increased to 24.8 per cent.

Officials said the voting process was going smoothly despite sporadic incidents of violence and disturbance, including the detention of 20 persons who were blocking the way of candidates in the governorate of Madaba and Mafraq, and the detention of a voter who attempted to vote twice in the governorate of Zarqa.

One person was killed and two injured in violence involving two tribes on the backdrop of election rivalry in Karak Tuesday afternoon, Maaytah told reporters, and police managed to calm violent incidents in Madaba, Wadi Sir and other areas.

His Majesty King Abdullah checked on the voting progress during a visit to the central operations room at the Interior Ministry, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Interior Minister Nayef Qadi had said earlier in the morning that all preparations were in place to facilitate the voting process, emphasizing the government’s keenness to enforce the law to ensure that citizens practice their right unimpeded.

Meanwhile, Jordanian National Commission for Women Secretary General Asma Khader urged Jordanian women to head to the polls and choose representatives capable of representing them and their cause.

Khader expressed hope that women candidates would be able to win seats without resorting to the quota system, according to which 12 seats are reserved for women deputies, one for each of the Kingdom’s 12 governorates.

She said that the current quota system does not give a fair chance to women from major cities who, she said, are more politicized than their counterparts in the rest of the Kingdom.

Political Development Ministry Secretary General Malek Twal said the government was keen to ensure a transparent process and gave permits to local and foreign observers to access polling centers all over the Kingdom.

He said by Tuesday, the number of foreign observers had reached 356, while local observers totaled 3,500.

In the governorates, turnout percentages were as follows:

Amman 31

Irbid 59.2

Balqa 61

Karak 71.2

Maan 71

Zarqa 33.4

Mafraq 71.6

Tafileh 72.2

Madaba 71.9

Jerash 68.5

Ajloun 70.2

Aqaba 56

North Badia 80.2

Central Badia 75.4

South Badia 79.6

9 November 2010

Source: The Jordan Times.
Link: http://jordantimes.com/?news=31704.