ELECTION REGISTRATION OPENS; 622 CANDIDATES APPLY

C O N F I D E N T I A L AMMAN 002933

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/18/2013
TAGS: PGOV PREL JO
SUBJECT: ELECTION REGISTRATION OPENS; 622 CANDIDATES APPLY

REF: A. AMMAN 2682 B. AMMAN 2559-02

Classified By: AMBASSADOR EDWARD W. GNEHM FOR REASONS 1.5 (B) AND (D)

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SUMMARY
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1. (U) Registration for candidates wishing to run in the June
17 elections officially began on May 18. Candidates have
three days to register; afterwards, the GOJ has 4 days to
verify the candidates meet the requirements to run.
Political parties have been coy about announcing their
candidates and some potential candidates have not yet made a
final decision on their candidacy. End Summary.

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LET THE CAMPAIGNS BEGIN...
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2. (C) The three day window to register as a candidate for
the June 17 Parliamentary elections began on May 18. By May
19, the Minister of Interior had received 622 applications
from potential candidates for the 110 available seats. After
the registration period closes, the GOJ will have four days
to vet the candidates and ensure they are qualified to run
(for details on candidate requirements, see Ref A). It
remains to be seen if the Ministry of Interior will deem
Circassian Toujan Faisal, who has announced her candidacy,
eligible to run, despite her felony conviction (see Ref B).
Although officially barred from campaigning until May 18,
many candidates have been discreetly luring supporters since
the King reaffirmed in April that elections would be held. A
drive around Amman on May 18 revealed that some candidates
have already put up campaign banners, particularly in the
hotly contested third district, which includes West Amman.
Most banners so far have focused on fairly non-contentious
issues, such as the need for a Palestinian state.


3. (C) Some political parties have been guarded about
releasing the names and numbers of their candidates. The
Democratic Reform Bloc, which is comprised of six political
parties, announced only a partial list of candidates, most
likely because centrist parties in the bloc with tribal
candidates are wary about associating themselves with a bloc
that includes leftist parties.


4. (C) Post anticipates even more candidates will join the
race before the May 20 deadline. Some candidates by May 18
had still not reached a decision about running and were
hedging their bets until they could view their competition.
One tribal contact was waiting to see how tribal politics
played out before officially submitting his candidacy--he
preferred to be the tribe's official candidate, but was vying
with two other tribal leaders for that role. The 500JD
candidate fee may deter some candidates from running if the
candidate views he/she has little chance of winning.

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GOJ READYING ITSELF
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5. (U) The Minister of Interior, Qaftan Majali, whose
ministry oversees elections, on May 17 publicly stressed the
need for "free and fair" elections. According to the English
daily Jordan Times, the GOJ has recruited 40,000 people to
supervise the elections in 45 constituencies. Majali has
also asked construction companies and excavation companies to
halt work from June 1-June 20 to avoid damage to the phone
lines during election season.

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COMMENT
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6. (C) Jordan will be the second Arab country to hold
post-war elections, and is eager to showcase its democracy,
particulary before the world spotlight focuses on the Kingdom
during the June 21-23 World Economic Forum.
GNEHM