JORDANIAN MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS: "A WEDDING FOR

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 AMMAN 003284 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS FOR NEA/ELA E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV KDEM KISL KWMN JO SUBJECT: JORDANIAN MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS: "A WEDDING FOR DEMOCRACY," ACCORDING TO OFFICIALS REF: A. AMMAN 3241 ¶B. AMMAN 3240 ¶C. 03 AMMAN 4737 Summary: "The Wedding for Democracy" -------------- ¶1. (SBU) In contrast to 2003 (in which all mayors and half of municipal council members were appointed; ref C),this year's municipal elections generated a high national turnout and high enthusiasm, as well as some controversy that resulted in scattered disruptions and violence in the country. This cable describes atmospherics at the various voting sites visited by six Embassy teams on election-day. Voting officials and some voters proudly hailed the elections as a "wedding for democracy." End Summary. Ministry of Municipal Affairs Revved Up -------------- ¶2. (SBU) Six Embassy teams of two persons each (one emboff with one FSN) gathered at the Ministry of Municipal Affairs, which was decorated with huge Jordanian flags and a portrait of the King, early on election-day, July 31. There, Embassy teams were joined by official Ministry facilitators assigned to travel with the teams to various voting centers in Amman, Irbid, Karak, Madaba, Salt/Jerash/Zarqa and Zarqa/Ruseifa. The excitement in the air at the Ministry was palpable. Ministry officials were staffing a media information center and an operations center filled with phones, computers, dedicated fax machines for each of the governorates, walls decked with maps of the municipalities and staff closely following turnout trends just after polls opened at 7 a.m. Mohammad Wakeel, a well-known Jordanian radio personality was broadcasting his popular morning show, called "Honestly with Wakeel," from a studio in the Ministry, encouraging people to vote. As the day progressed, the operations center followed voter turnout, which picked up as the day went on, then into the evening followed the results as they trickled into Amman from around the country. The six Embassy teams visited over 40 polling centers throughout the day. Banners, Posters, Campaigners and Voters -------------- ¶3. (SBU) As the teams went out to various parts of Jordan, several constants greeted each of the teams during their visits. The teams were taken to governorate buildings in which the municipalities were located and had tea with the Governors or their representatives while they arranged for facilitators. The town centers were covered with colorful campaign banners hanging above the streets and over town squares with walls covered in candidate posters from across the political spectrum. ¶4. (SBU) Polling stations were located primarily in public and private schools throughout the country. Men and women had their own segregated voting centers, except in very small towns such as one near Karak where men and women voted in the same centers and in the same room. In front of polling stations, large crowds of campaigners and voters gathered, with campaigners clamoring for votes, passing out campaign fliers and business cards with photos and names of candidates. At women's polling stations, these campaigners were usually young girls or hijab-clad women with colored sashes for their candidates (green for the IAF-Islamist candidates for most areas, yellow for IAF in Madaba). Campaign poster-plastered cars, taxis, buses, vans and pick-up trucks, rented out by campaigns, were also ferrying voters to and from crowded polling places. Inside the Polls and the Voting Process -------------- ¶5. (SBU) Polling stations varied in terms of crowds, orderliness and atmosphere. In more affluent areas of towns, the centers were more orderly and less so in other parts of town, but this was often a reflection of time of day (more voters later in the day) or number of voters registered to vote in that particular polling station. Every polling center included multiple rooms in which voters would vote. Voters were sent to a certain room in which to vote based on their first names. Upon entering the rooms, the voters would see a table with about five voting committee members who administered the election, varying numbers of candidate representatives who had the right to observe voting (and who occasionally crossed off names off their own voting lists), two transparent plexi-glass boxes and a gas light in case of electricity failure. The ballot boxes were numbered by AMMAN 00003284 002 OF 005 municipality and by the number of voters for that box, and voter lists were linked with ballot boxes, meaning an individual voter could only vote in the room where their corresponding ballot box was located. ¶6. (SBU) Upon entering, the voters would give the voting committee president their identification cards and their names would be crossed off a voting list with a pen after the committee clerk would check name, date of birth and i.d. number. Women in niqab (complete face coverings) were occasionally asked to show their faces to women police officers to confirm identity though this was not always done in locations visited by emboffs. Voting committee members underlined that the voting lists with the crossed off names would remain part of the public record, and that candidates had the voting lists and knew who should vote where. If there were discrepancies between i.d. cards and the voting lists, voters were not allowed to vote. The voters whose names were on the lists would then be given two ballots (similar to a quarter of a piece of paper),one white, one green, both with a governorate stamp and the signature of the committee president. The candidates would then go to a voting table where they would stand and with a pen write in the names of the candidates they were voting for, one name on each ballot: green for mayor, white for council member. ¶7. (SBU) Lists of candidate names, usually computer-printed, but occasionally hand-written, were taped to the wall near the voting desks; one list for mayoralty candidates and one for council members. In most municipalities, there were not voting booths but partitions separating voting desks. In Zarqa, polling stations had voting booths with curtains. The voter would then fold the ballot in half, and place in one of the two transparent boxes - the mayor ballot in a green-topped box and the member ballot in a white-topped box. Nothing was done to mark voters as having voted other than the crossing off their names from the voter lists; no marks were made to the i.d. cards as was done in previous elections, and fingers were not dipped in ink. ¶8. (SBU) The diversity of Jordanian society could be seen in women's voting centers. In Palestinian areas, they were awash with dresses with Palestinian embroidery, often with 100 per cent of voters in hijab (head-covering). In Christian areas, ladies in black outfits and crosses on their necklaces would eagerly place their votes in the ballot boxes. In many areas, women voted with babies and children in tow giving young children their first taste of the democratic process, and in some cases police officers held small babies as the mother voted. Husbands were not allowed into women's voting centers, and policewomen were on had to handle any identification or security issues (more on women and these elections septel). Demanding their Vote: Illiterate or Elderly -------------- ¶9. (SBU) Illiterate, elderly and disabled voters were taken care of. Each polling station had a wheel-chair provided by the Ministry of Social Development, and hosts of the Embassy visit teams were eager to show them off. Illiterate voters who could not write had the option of voting orally. This method varied across municipalities. Throughout the country, illiterate voters cast ballots by whispering to the election committee president, by saying out loud to the whole committee for whom they were voting, or even by pointing at photos of candidates as was seen in Karak and Irbid; candidate photo sheets were produced by several municipalities on their own initiative. Voting committee presidents would then write down those votes on the ballot papers and sometimes show them to the candidates' observers and then place them in the ballot boxes. ¶10. (SBU) In Karak, emboffs saw voting committee presidents not allow people to vote orally if they said they could read and write. Some voters just preferred to vote orally. In Madaba, one sick elderly man with a drip hanging out of his arm voted, but refused the assistance of the wheel-chair. In Karak, an elderly man in an Arabic head-dress and two canes demanded his right to vote and cast his ballot based on the candidate photos. The gentleman told the committee that he did not know who to vote for, so he pointed at and voted for the only candidate pictured with a head-dress, and none of the candidate observers objected to the vote. Also in Karak, a blind person voted, led in by his father who wrote in the voter's choices. Inside a Campaign HQ on Election Day -------------- AMMAN 00003284 003 OF 005 ¶11. (SBU) Several Embassy teams visited campaign headquarters on election-day. Like in the U.S., the campaigns were focused on getting their voters to the polls, keeping close tabs on voter turnout and in making sure their supporters knew where they were supposed to vote. Campaigns passed out to their supporters business cards with candidate names, voter names and ballot box numbers where those voters were registered to vote. In Amman, supporters were given computer-printed cards, reminding voters whom to vote for and where to vote. ¶12. (SBU) Election tents were set up near voting stations where candidates and supporters could greet voters and try to garner last-second support as voters headed into polling stations. Campaigns were hearing from supporters and their poll center observers about the level of turnout, which dictated how they marshalled their remaining support as the day went on. ¶13. (SBU) At one campaign headquarters in the multi-confessional town of Madaba, contacts from the Christian community told poloff on election-day that elements of the GOJ were actively working with the anti-IAF political forces in Madaba, including the Christians and other nationalists. A campaign worker told poloff that the GID had been in touch with local leaders in various communities to rally support behind a government-supported candidate, and pointed to a person he claimed was a GID official in the campaign headquarters assisting on election-day. The campaign worker was not enthused about supporting the government-backed candidate, saying, "I would not vote for him, but the government and our leaders want us to so we will." The government-backed candidate won the mayoralty of Madaba. Counting the Votes -------------- ¶14. (SBU) As polls closed at about 5 p.m. in most municipalities, the ballot boxes were sealed with masking tape and with wax seals. The boxes were then turned over to counting committees, often in the same room where voting took place, but occasionally sent to central vote-tallying centers. In Irbid, boxes were opened and ballots were neatly stacked in one pile and they were read out loud, one by one. The votes would be recorded on a chalkboard in the school room by a tick mark in each square for the candidate as the candidate representatives observed. Illegible or blank ballots were separated as invalid, as were ballots placed in the wrong boxes (mayoralty ballots in council boxes and vice versa). After being counted, the ballots were partially torn and given to a second and then third member of vote-counting committees to count the number of ballots to ensure that the number of ballots matched the number of voters crossed off the voter lists. ¶15. (SBU) In the village of Mazar outside of Irbid, the atmosphere was jubilant as villagers cheered the arrival of ballot boxes at the centralized counting center from around the municipality after the polls closed at 9 p.m., having been reopened for four additional hours in order to reach the 50 per cent plus one voter turnout requirement for a quorum. Most other municipalities conducted counting in the same rooms as the voting. Notes from the Field -------------- ¶16. (SBU) Amman: Voting centers in rural areas of the sprawling Amman municipality were orderly and mellow compared to the overly-crowded polling stations in the city. Six Amman polling stations were opened for a second day on August 1 because of a lack of the 50 per cent plus one voter turnout required for a quorum. In general, Amman voters were less excited than outside of Amman, as the mayoralty of Amman will be appointed and only half of the municipal council will be elected, probably accounting for the low turnout in Amman. However, those that did vote were enthusiastic about taking part in the election. ¶17. (SBU) Irbid: Irbid extended its voting hours to about 9:00 p.m. in the hopes of garnering the required number of voters for a quorum. Also in Irbid, visibly angry supporters of Islamic Action Front (IAF) candidate Nabil Kofahi told emboffs that Army buses were transporting soldiers to the polls where they all allegedly were voting for the pro-government Mayoral candidate Abdulrauf Al Tal, though embassy observers did not witness any buses transporting AMMAN 00003284 004 OF 005 soldiers to the polls. The team also reported the late arrival of many Irbid voters from Amman, who drove up to Irbid to vote late in order to try to get Irbid enough voters to allow the vote to be official. ¶18. (SBU) Karak: Emboffs encountered a Jordanian-American voting who said that it was easier to register and vote in Karak than in the U.S. Emboffs reported that IAF presence in the Karak municipality was negligible. Also in Karak, one soldier tried to vote showing his military i.d. card. He was not allowed to vote because his name was not on the voter list - an interesting counter-example to IAF's claims of improper military voting. ¶19. (SBU) Madaba: Emboffs reported a very high, visible turnout in the Palestinian camp area, much higher than in other areas of the city. The camp area in the run-up to the election was considered an IAF stronghold, but election-day appearances seemed to suggest an outpouring of support for independent Hamed al Zen, of Palestinian origin. His posters appeared jointly with those of council candidate Hajj Abed Al Darabeneh (who was courted by the IAF candidate prior to election day),one of the few instances of apparent running mates in the election. ¶20. (SBU) At about 12:00 p.m., local police closed the center of Madaba following demonstrations and clashes near the governorate building. The closure emptied streets and forced local businesses to close in the center of the town. Reports indicated that large groups of supporters of a pro-government candidate - a contact reported that these were three groups of illiterate soldiers being bused in to vote - began yelling the name of the candidate they were supporting in a voting center, leading the supporters of an opposing IAF candidate to take exception to the chanting. A fist-fight ensued, leading to the burning of tires. Cars and property were damaged and gunshots were fired toward the governorate building. Riot police were called in and order was restored. ¶21. (SBU) The Embassy team in Madaba was meeting with local contacts in a campaign headquarters during the melee until the situation was confirmed to be under control. The Embassy team was advised to depart Madaba by Jordanian police through the RSO earlier than planned due to the disturbances, and did so. ¶22. (SBU) Salt/Jerash/Zarqa: Salt was the only governorate site testing Oracle election software. Engineer Amjad Ma'abreh from private company PALCO, an Oracle partner, was the chief operator. A governorate election operations center was receiving hourly updates via phone and fax to record the number of voters at all of the governorate's approximately 100 polling stations. Polling personnel had not heard the about the IAF withdrawal in the afternoon and as elsewhere, IAF candidate names remained on the ballot (ref B). Despite heavy traffic jams and crowds at polling centers, Zarqa voters had about a 15 minute wait to cast their votes. In Jerash, emboffs were told that the UNRWA Palestinian refugee camp was not taking part in the municipal election. NOTE: About 120,000 Palestinian refugees residing in Jordan who arrived since 1967 from Gaza do not have full citizenship rights and do not vote in elections. END NOTE. ¶23. (SBU) Zarqa/Ruseifa: Polling in Zarqa and Ruseifa was orderly amid a large security presence throughout the two towns that are traditionally IAF strongholds. IAF green sashes were prevalent among campaigners. Zarqa and Ruseifa were the only municipalities where curtains were provided for voter privacy. A crisis arose in one center when a voting committee official spilled tea on a pile of ballots. After consulting with higher-ups, the ballots were set aside and clean ballots were used. Ruseifa also had the only woman member of a voting committee that Embassy teams came across. The voting committees were appointed by the Ministry of Municipal Affairs to implement the election process, though most centers seemed to have a heavy Ministry of Interior presence. Comment -------------- ¶24. (SBU) Embassy teams were openly welcomed in all municipalities they visited. The Ministry of Municipal Affairs that organized the election provided excellent support to the Embassy teams - so much so that an Embassy soccer team will play a Ministry soccer team in August in a case of sports diplomacy. The Jordanians were excited to be able to share their elections with the world, and in multiple AMMAN 00003284 005 OF 005 locations Jordanian officials at the polling stations and some voters referred to the process as a "wedding for democracy." Polling officials and voters (including some IAF supporters in Zarqa and Irbid),were happy to see American Embassy visitors and eagerly passed to the teams their campaign materials. The atmosphere at polling stations was enthusiastic and professional. Incidents of violence and the IAF "withdrawal" from the election did create an air on controversy in some measure (ref B). Nevertheless, the overall impression of the Embassy's visiting teams was that the election was held in an enthusiastic atmosphere among voters, and that election officials were taking their administration of the election seriously, with a view to transparency and sharing that process with our teams during election-day. Visit Amman's Classified Web Site at http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/amman/ Hale