JORDAN'S MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS: CONTROVERSY,

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 004737

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/30/2013
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KDEM SOCI JO
SUBJECT: JORDAN'S MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS: CONTROVERSY,
INDIFFERENCE, ISOLATED VIOLENCE

REF: A. AMMAN 4251

B. AMMAN 4189

Classified By: PolCouns Doug Silliman, per Reasons 1.5 (b) and (d).


1. (C) Summary: Jordan's municipal elections concluded
July 27 with little fanfare but some controversy. Despite
the efforts of the Islamic Action Front (IAF) to seek delay,
more than 80 percent of municipal councils held contested
elections over the weekend. The IAF remained firm in its
insistence that the voting was marred by instances of voter
fraud and procedural irregularity, which the government
characterized as an example of the IAF's predictable
anti-government line. In two instances, election-related
violence disrupted what were generally orderly and peaceful
days of voting. A mediocre turn-out reflected public apathy
for the new structure of the municipal councils system, which
marries elected officials with technocratic appointees. End
Summary.

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Procedure, Process & Results
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2. (U) Prior to the polls, the IAF initiated a petition to
postpone the elections so newly elected MPs could review the
temporary Municipal Elections Law that authorizes the Cabinet
to appoint up to 50 percent of municipal council members and
all mayors (ref A). Despite this protest, the IAF
participated in Amman municipality elections and boycotted
the rest of the country. In Amman, four of its 11 candidates
won seats (ref B). In 1999, the party secured five seats on
the capital's city council.


3. (U) Voter turn-out approached 58 percent in the 82
cities and town that held polls, officials announced July 28.
Voter turn-out in tribal and rural areas was higher than in
major cities. Analysts say the elections were characterized
by the absence of political rivalry and the domination of
tribalism in most districts. In a July 28 press conference,
Minister of Municipal Affairs Abdul Razzaq Tbeishat announced
that the highest turn-out of 81 percent was registered in
Jerash Governorate, while the lowest participation was 28
percent in Zarqa.


4. (U) 1,608 candidates competed for 402 seats in 82
municipal councils. Among the 46 women running in the 99
municipalities' elections, five won seats. 152 candidates in
17 districts won seats in uncontested elections. The
approximately half of the remaining council members and all
mayors will be appointed by the government and announced
shortly. Officials will appoint a woman to each municipality
in which women failed to win seats.


5. (U) In Greater Amman, voting was extended for a second
day in 13 out of the capital's 20 districts due to low
turn-out. 96 candidates competed for 20 council seats,
including a woman who withdrew. Around 46 percent of the
capital's 306,418 voters participated. This turn-out trumped
those of the previous two municipal elections in 1999 and
1995, when 41 percent and 35 percent of eligible voters case
their ballots, respectively.

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Voice of Opposition
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6. (U) The IAF called July 28 for the government to scrap
the results of the elections in Greater Amman, alleging that
the electoral process had been tarnished by violations
ranging from vote rigging to interference by security forces
at polls to government efforts to change the composition of
certain balloting committees prior to the elections. The
opposition claimed that eligible voters with stamped family
books could not locate their names in the voting rosters at
polling stations. IAF Secretary-General Hamzeh Mansour told
one paper a day earlier that "many voters voted more than
once. Some voters went to the ballot box five times."


7. (U) Regarding his party's decision to participate in
Amman despite calls for review of the Municipal Election Law,
Mansour stated, "we participated with 11 candidates because
(Greater Amman's election law) -- since its endorsement --
stipulates appointing 50 percent of the council members in
addition to the mayor. But applying this same system to the
other municipalities was newly introduced and has not been
endorsed by Parliament." A sign of the IAF's displeasure
with the electoral system, Mansour remarked July 28 that
"citizens used to elect their candidates at a time when
Jordan was under the British mandate... Now we are living in
the third millennium, and the government still thinks that
people are not qualified or equipped enough to elect all
municipal council members." Mansour was quoted in the July
29 issue of the Jordanian daily, al-Arab al-Yawm, saying the
IAF will provide documents proving the government rigged the
Amman elections.

8. (U) GOJ officials insisted the electoral process was
fair and transparent and invited all person with complaints
to the employ the Jordanian judicial system for resolution.
Meanwhile, the Petra News Agency reported July 27 that some
citizens complained of not having their names correctly
indicated on voters' lists. Others said their correct
national numbers were not on the list, making them ineligible
to vote. The government, for its part, accused the IAF of
playing its usual game of attacking and undermining official
policy, without hard evidence or thorough investigation.

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Isolated Violence
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9. (U) As in the June parliamentary elections, the
municipal elections passed with minimal violence. The most
serious case involved two injuries in a dispute between
supporters of two rival candidates in the Southern Shouneh
disrict of the Jordan Valley on July 26. Violence flared as
supporters of the leading candidate started "teasing
supporters of those who lost," according to Balqa Governor
Thamer Fayez on July 27. Those accused of opening fire were
in police custody for questioning, said Fayez in a press
interview, while those wounded were in stable condition.
Authorities deployed at the scene of the skirmish, while
local deputies started tribal mediation efforts to reach a
reconciliation between the two sides. On the same day, a car
was reported damaged in the Jordan Valley community of Deir
Allah -- an act also attributed to electoral disputes.

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Public Opinion
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10. (U) The Jordan Times informally gauged public opinion
in its July 28 issue, finding that regardless of personal
attitudes toward the new hybrid electoral system, obtaining
governmental services remains more important than issues of
political structure for ordinary citizens. Some opponents of
the mixed council system fear that appointees will come from
other areas, making them less qualified than elected members
that know their constituency and can relate to citizens and
their needs. Proponents, however, believe that communities
do not need local notable citizens but educated people with
sufficient expertise to ensure the best performance.


11. (U) Deputy Mayor of Amman Abdul Rahim Biqai told the
press on July 28 that complaints of far-from-efficient public
sector performance were "understandable" but linked the slow
pace of development with a fast-increasing population growth
rate in the capital. Both Tbeishat and Biqai expect
municipal work to gain momentum after the elections, with
Biqai promising a "package of services" to Greater Amman
residents.

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Comment
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12. (C) While there are doubts about the new, hybrid
municipal councils structure, the population is more
interested in the delivery of services than in who delivers
them. The IAF's opposition to the structure is perhaps less
a function of the group's displeasure with the
de-democratization of the country than it is a comment on its
lack of broad-based, grass-roots support outside Amman.


13. (C) While there were probably procedural violations
during two days of polling, like the parliamentary elections,
we do not believe they were widespread enough to change the
election results. As with the parliamentary elections, it
was the legal basis of the municipal elections that steered
the results toward the government, not the procedures
themselves.


14. (C) Voter apathy, reflected in the 58 percent voter
turn-out rate, and the much lower rates in major urban
centers, derives in part from opposition to the hybrid
council structure, weariness after the recent parliamentary
elections, and a general feeling among Jordanians that,
elected or appointed, council members will serve their own
interests before those of their constituents. End Comment.
GNEHM