Ammon News - The Jordan Times - The Independent Elections Commission (IEC) on Saturday began receiving candidacy applications for by-elections in two districts in Amman and Karak to fill two vacant Lower House seats.

Those wishing to run for these polls should submit their applications before the end of working hours on Monday, according to Sharaf Abu Rumman, acting director of the IEC’s media department.

By the end of working hours on Saturday, 14 people had submitted candidacy applications, nine of them in the Amman district, and the rest in Karak, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, quoted IEC Operations Director Ghaleb Shamayleh as saying.

The IEC will announce its acceptance or rejection of the candidacy requests after a decision is made by its board of commissioners, Shamayleh added.

Last month, after receiving an official notification from the House on the vacant seats, the IEC decided to set November 9 as the date for by-elections in the two districts.

Two seats in the 150-strong House are now vacant after Mahmoud Hweimel (Karak, 4th District) passed away in July and Talal Sharif (Amman, 1st District) was dismissed for attempting to shoot his colleague MP Qusai Dmeisi (Zarqa, 4th District).

According to Article 88 of the Constitution, the Lower House must inform the IEC of vacant seats within one month.

The IEC said it also began receiving accreditation requests from journalists who wish to cover the by-elections.

Any journalist wishing to visit the polling centres must obtain proper accreditation from the IEC and can apply for a badge at IEC headquarters in Amman near Gardens (Wasfi Tal) Street.

Since the resumption of democratic life in Jordan in 1989, eight by-elections have been conducted to fill the vacant seats of MPs who either died or whose memberships were cancelled.

In the current 17th Parliament, newly elected deputy Mohammad Mahseiri (Amman, 2nd District) passed away less than a week after the January 23 parliamentary elections.

The IEC held by-elections in April in the district to fill his seat.