Ammon News -
* From Ammon News Arabic by Banan Malkawi

AMMONNEWS – Amal Ghabayen - Increasing the quota seats for women in the Lower House of Parliament from 6 to 12 seats, as a minimum, aims to enhance women's participation in the decision making process and empower women's effective role in the political life of the country, Minister of Political Development, Musa Maaytah said.

Maaytah said in statements to 'Ammon News' on Saturday that increasing the number of parliamentary seats for women contributes to wider and more comprehensive representation of women from throughout the kingdom, adding that the quota constitutes the minimum number of representative seats for women.

The Minister noted that women who win their seats through the quota system are chosen by a committee that would announce 12 women who earn the highest number of votes on a national level on a percentage basis.

Maaytah explained that women's seats will be allocated by counting the number of votes a female candidate receives in an electoral district as follows:

The number of votes for the female candidate in an electoral sub-district, divided by the number of voters in the same sub-district, to arrive at a percentage that determines the result on a percentage basis.

For example, a female candidate in a sub-district in Amman receives 5,000 votes out of 20,000 voters in the sub-district; she receives 25% of the votes.

Whereas, another female candidate receives 2,500 votes in another sub-district in the same governorate (Amman), out of 5,000 voters, she receives 50 percent of the votes.

In this case, the latter candidate would win the women's quota seat for Amman governorate, Maaytah explained.

The Minister noted that women in 15 electoral districts (12 governorates and 3 Badia districts) will compete over 12 seats, won by those who earn the highest 12 percentages from each district, and only one woman can win from each electoral district.

If two female candidates tie in the percentage of votes, a draw will be carried out by a special committee to choose the winning candidate in public.

It is noted that the women quota is allocated for female candidates regardless of religion or ethnicity.

If a quota seat is vacated for any reason, elections will be held in the voting district whose female candidate previously occupied the seat.

It is noted that the Ministry of Political development is working on issuing brochures with details to explain the new electoral law pertaining to articles related to women's quota, and a hotline phone number has also been dedicated to answer questions from the public.