Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - The Independent Elections Commission (IEC) on Monday referred a former lawmaker to the attorney general on suspicion of holding thousands of voter identification cards without a proper legal justification, the commission’s spokesperson said.

Hussein Bani Hani did not name the former MP implicated in the case, but former Amman deputy Yihya Saud was shown in possession of thousands of what appeared to be a pile of voter IDs in photos published on news websites.

Holding the cards is a violation of Article 61 of the Elections Law.

The pictures were taken at a press conference on Sunday, where Saud threatened to “burn” the IDs if the government increases electricity prices.

Bani Hani criticised the government’s “failure” to prevent such illegal acts but noted that this case is now in the hands of the judiciary.

The IEC has also criticised the government on more than one occasion over “inaction” against illegal early campaigning for the elections by would-be candidates. The IEC is responsible for announcing the official campaigning period.

A recent report, issued by the civil alliance to monitor the elections (Rasid) said there were almost 108,000-21,000 voter ID cards held illegally by certain groups and parliament hopefuls ahead of the January 23 elections.