Ammon News -
A committee entrusted by His Majesty King Abdullah in June to develop the country’s political and parliamentary ecosystem has proposed two drafts for new elections and political parties laws, in addition to other recommendations related to local governance and women and youth empowerment.
With regard to the new election law, the committee proposed a mixed electoral system with two levels of representation, the first being national and called "the general constituency," and the second local and called "local constituencies."
Accordingly, the proposed bill divides the Kingdom into 18 local electoral districts and one general district. The Lower House of Parliament is proposed to have 138 members.
Competition in the general district or national lists is proposed to be limited to political parties, earmarking 41 seats for them. The bill also proposes the adoption of a closed-list proportional system with a threshold of 2.5% of all voters at the general constituency level.
In the general constituency, at least two seats are allocated to Christians and at least one seat to Jordanians of Circassian and Chechen descent. To promote the participation of youth and women in political life, the law lowered the age of candidacy to 25 years, and stipulated that the electoral list must commit to having a young man (or young woman) at least 35 years old among the top five candidates.
The law also proposes obligating lists at the general district level to have at least one female candidate among the top three candidates, and at least one female candidate among the following three candidates.
To ensure equitable representation, the law stipulated that the list in the general constituency should include candidates distributed over half of the local electoral districts across the Kingdom. The committee said that the "general constituency" proposal will enhance national identity and develop collective social and political contexts around which Jordanians from different regions gather. It added that this formula will also provide a great opportunity for political parties to develop on a programmatic basis and move political life to a new stage.
As for the local districts, they include three districts for the capital governorate, two districts for Irbid governorate, an electoral district for each of the rest of the kingdom’s governorates, and three districts for the Badia population. However, residents of the Jordanian Badia may run outside the local constituencies allotted to them, and any of the candidates from other local constituencies may run in the Badia constituencies as well. The voter register for the Badia constituencies will remain closed.
In the local constituencies, at least (7) seats are allocated to Christians and at least two seats to Jordanians of Circassian and Chechen descent. The number of candidates for the local constituency must not exceed the number of seats allotted to the constituency, and must not be less than two candidates, with a threshold of 7% of the total voters at the constituency level. Women's representation are also increased by one seat for each constituency.
Candidates for seats reserved for women, Christians, or Jordanians of Circassian and Chechen descent in local districts must choose the candidacy path they desire (quota or free competition), the draft further proposes.
The law did not require public sector employees running for elections to submit their resignations, and only required them to submit an unpaid leave request 90 days before the polling date.
The draft law obligated the Independent Election Commission to provide an electronic screen available to citizens through its website, on which the procedures for collecting results can be seen in real time.
In addition to setting a spending ceiling for electoral propaganda in all electoral districts, the voter's electoral district will be determined according to the permanent residence address. The committee says that this amendment will expand political participation and societal cohesion and reduce association with sub-identities.
As for the political parties law, the draft suggested that the number of applicants to establish a party should not be less than three hundred.
The law also gave political parties an opportunity to develop horizontal participation at the governorate level, and social participation at the level of youth and women, until the founding conference of the party was held within a period of time not exceeding one year, provided that the number of founding members of the party under establishment at the time of the founding conference was not less than 1,000, and that the founders are residents of at least six governorates, taking into account that their number is not less than 30 people from each governorate.
The law also stipulated that the proportion of young people (in the age group of 18 and 35 years) should not be less than 20% of the number of founders, and that women should not be less than 20% of the number of founders. It also stipulated that at least one of the founders should be a person with disabilities, in addition to the number of founders present at the founding conference being no less than the majority of its founding members.
The law stipulates that no citizen may be subjected to, questioned or held accountable, or that his constitutional or legal rights may be violated because of his party affiliation. It also granted the right to students of higher education institutions that are members of a party to practice all partisan activities within the campus of those institutions without any restrictions or prejudice to their rights, provided that a special bylaw is issued to regulate such activities.
The law proposes the establishment of a department called the "Party Registry" in the Independent Election Commission to ensure transparency and independence regarding party affairs. The committee made it clear that the authority to approve requests for the establishment of any party in accordance with the provisions of the Political Parties Law, follow-up party affairs, and ensure their adherence to the law and their statutes, will be entrusted to a completely neutral and independent body, i.e. the Independent Election Commission.
The law also permits parties to establish political relations with other local or foreign parties or with international political party federations, within the national and general political interest of the state and in compliance with the provisions of the constitution and the law, provided that this relationship does not constitute an organizational link for the party with those parties or unions.
The law also considered that donations and gifts made to parties are deductible expenses from funds subject to corporate and individual income tax in accordance with the provisions of the Income Tax Law. The law also proposes allocating an item in the state’s general budget to contribute to party support from treasury funds, provided that the conditions for providing support, its amount, aspects and procedures for disbursing it are specified in a bylaw to be issued for this purpose.
The law stipulated that the Secretary-General of any party may not hold this position for more than two consecutive terms, provided that the party determines the term in its statute, which must not exceed four years.
The law affirmed the right of parties to form a coalition to contest the parliamentary or other elections. It stipulated that the party resulting from the alliance shall enjoy legal personality, and is considered the legal successor to the allied parties and that all rights belonging to them, including their seats in the House, shall devolve to it. The new party also bears the obligations incurred by the legally defunct parties.
Regarding the constitution, the committee suggested adding two paragraphs on empowering youth and women to Article VI of the constitution. It also called for the amendment of the fifth paragraph of Article VI thereof, with the aim of strengthening the legal protection of persons with disabilities and enhancing their participation in the political, economic, social, cultural and other aspects of life.
It also recommended amending the number of deputies required to hold a voting session on the government (10 deputies currently), to become (25%) of the members of the House, and the introduction of a constitutional provision that requires any government to submit a ministerial statement and request a vote on it to any new parliament.
The proposed amendments also included a stipulation that the Prime Minister, whose government has lost the vote of confidence of the House of Representatives, may not be assigned to form the next government.
The amendments also propose that 25% of the members of the Senate or members of the House of Representatives may resort to the Constitutional Court to request interpretation of laws and regulations or to directly challenge their constitutionality, instead of the majority. The aim, according to the committee, is to enable the parliamentary minority, the parties represented in Parliament, and the parliamentary blocs to carry out their supervisory and legislative role by resorting to the Constitutional Court.
The amendments also included the introduction of a constitutional provision that allows adding conditions for membership in the House of Representatives under the electoral law, in addition to what is stated in the Constitution, allowing parties to participate in parliamentary elections through lists limited to party candidates.
The committee also proposed that the resignation of any member of the House of Representatives be considered effective from the date of its submission, without the need for the approval of the House. It also called for the term of the Speaker of the House to be one year instead of two, to give other members of the House the right to choose and annually evaluate the performance of the Speaker. Among the amendments are also granting members of the House the right to vote by two-thirds of the members to dismiss the Speaker.
A constitutional article was proposed requiring that the ownership of gifts in cash or in-kind obtained by a member of the Senate or the House because of their membership shall be transferred to the state's public treasury.
The amendments also stipulated that parliamentary immunity should be limited to arrest and not trial, in order to uphold the rule of law and not to obstruct litigation, while maintaining the necessary and sufficient immunity for parliament members to carry out their legislative and oversight role.
The committee recommended amending the article that requires the resignation of the government when the parliament is dissolved, so that the government's resignation is obligatory when the parliament is dissolved four months before the end of its constitutional term.
The committee also called for the enactment of an article requiring that two-thirds of the present members of the Senate and House of Representatives approve the laws regulating elections, political parties, the judiciary, the Independent Election Commission, the Audit Bureau, and the Integrity and Anti-Corruption Commission (these laws are currently approved by a majority).
As for the recommendations related to the legislation regulating local administration, the committee called for a phased, transitional approach to reach good local governance, capable of carrying out the tasks of local development and services independently and effectively, based on programs chosen by citizens through free and fair elections.
The first phase of the plan includes building the capacities of the elected and appointed structures in the governorates and municipalities, and improving the quality of services provided to meet the aspirations of citizens. The committee also proposed reducing the age of candidacy for local councils to 22 years instead of 25, and increasing the quota for women to become at least 30% of seats, in addition to allocating a seat for people with disabilities in the elected structures at the governorate and municipal levels.
In the second phase, regional councils will be created to be the elected supreme bodies for local administration in its final stages, meaning the stage of local government at the level of the executive authority (developmental and service).
The committee also made a number of recommendations related to financial decentralization, such as dedicating a special chapter to the budget of each governorate in the General Budget Law, and transferring administrative and financial powers to the governorates to become responsible for preparing and implementing their budgets.
This is in addition to opening a special account for the provincial councils in the Cities and Villages Development Bank, to which the provinces’ budget allocations are transferred directly after the approval of the General Budget Law, in order to prevent the provinces’ budgets’ allocations from not being disbursed by seizing or reducing part of them by the Council of Ministers.
The committee said that it reached a set of recommendations related to youth empowerment, covering four life stages, each of which has different psychological, cultural, social, economic and political characteristics.
It also formulated general recommendations aimed at developing legislation, policies and practices from a youth point of view. These recommendations seek to ensure fair representation and participation between young men and women by 50/50 in programs aimed at developing young people's skills and supporting them at the technical, academic and political levels.
Among the recommendations related to the age group (12-15 years) is to ensure that basic education is compulsory and that focus is placed on quality education, increase the number of schools dedicated to technical and vocational education, and add courses that consolidate Jordanian national identity and Jordanian history in the school curricula. This is in addition to offering courses on civic education, democratic culture, the values of tolerance, citizenship and political participation in the curricula and extracurricular activities, and the training of the teaching staff.
The recommendations called for focusing on political and ethical values, accepting the other opinion through extracurricular activities, activating student councils for this age group, and for civil society institutions to contribute to training and empowerment in line with relevant laws and regulations.
As for the recommendations related to the age group (16-18 years), they include the formation of municipal councils of adolescents, with a representative of each school in the municipal council and within the geography of the municipality, and an increased focus on technology (such as the Internet of things, the fifth industrial revolution, artificial intelligence, data processing and analysis, and cybersecurity fundamentals).
The committee called for offering courses on political and constitutional culture and the history of Jordanian democracy, focusing on the discussion papers of His Majesty the King, and introducing the most prominent national figures who contributed to building the state. It also called for the Ministry of Education's methodological plans to highlight human rights principles and concepts, good morals, values of pluralism and tolerance, and the rights and issues of persons with disabilities.
For the age group (19-22 years), the committee urged public and private universities to allocate budgets for student unions and councils with the aim of holding extracurricular activities on campus and in accordance with the financial bylaw of each university. It also called on them to restructure and activate the role of student clubs and student affairs deanships in a way that invests youth energies, as well as creating student clubs concerned with political empowerment and participation in public life.
As for the age group (23-35 years), the committee recommended launching a national program to empower young candidates for elected councils, involving young people in the boards of trustees of universities, government bodies, and government boards of directors, and exempting unemployed graduates from membership fees for professional unions for at least the first year.
It also called for increasing government funding for civil society institutions that specialize in empowering youth politically and economically, and facilitating procedures for obtaining funding from donors in accordance with the applicable regulations and instructions.
The committee developed a set of recommendations to empower women under three themes: institutional and procedural mechanisms, public policies, legislative frameworks, economic environment, social environment and intellectual patterns.
Among the recommendations related to institutional and procedural mechanisms and public policies is the creation of a constitutional guarantee to empower women, enhance their participation in public life and protect them from all forms of discrimination.
This is in addition to the request from the government and the Legislation and Opinion Bureau to use gender-sensitive language when preparing draft laws, regulations, and instructions, as this has an impact on developing societal culture and reducing the stereotyping of the roles of both women and men.
The committee also called for instructing the Ministerial Committee for the Empowerment of Women to conduct a review of all legislation that includes discrimination against women, as defined by the National Strategy for Women 2020-2025, and to amend it by adopting a participatory approach that ensures the effective participation of all concerned parties.
The committee suggested creating a legal framework for a previous decision regarding the benefits granted to children of Jordanian mothers by including it in the Residency and Foreigners Affairs Law.
The committee also recommended the adoption of incentives, such as tax exemptions, to encourage the employment of women in the private sector and provide them with a safe work environment, including criminalizing harassment in the workplace, and strengthening the capacities of the Ministry of Labor's inspectors to ensure that employers comply with the provisions of the law.
With regard to social protection policies, the committee recommended that data on poverty rates be available in society to ensure responsive planning, that national registries be developed and that women breadwinners be recognized and given the opportunity to benefit from social protection programs.
To read the report of the Royal Committee for the Modernization of the Political System (proposed legislation, findings and recommendations), please visit the website: tahdeeth.jo
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