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Ammon News -

Members of the Jordan Press Association (JPA) will Friday elect a new president and members of the syndicate's council in the first professional union elections to be held in the Kingdom since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in early 2020.

A total of 1,142 journalists, who are eligible to vote, will cast their ballots to elect a new president, vice president, and a 9-strong council. For the vote to go ahead the JPA's bylaw requires the presence of the majority of registered members (50+1), otherwise, the election will be deferred to the next Friday and will be held with those present.

The JPA election was supposed to be held in April 2020 but was deferred to this year following the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic and ensuing defense orders and lockdowns. Following the health preventative measures, the attendance will have to provide a proof of Covid vaccination or submit a negative PCR test conducted in the 72 hours preceding the vote.

Vote counting will be, for the first time in the JPA's history, machine-controlled while machine-rejected ballots will be counted manually, adding that each ballot (for president, VP and members) will carry different colors.

Before the elections, the general assembly will discuss the 2019 and 2020 financial and administrative reports and a recommendation to conduct an actuarial study over the JPA's Cooperation and Social Security Fund.

Running for the presidency of the JPA are: Rakan Saaydeh, Falha Braizat and Tariq Momani. Jamal Ishteiwi, Fayez Odaibat, Majed Qur'an, "Mohamed Ammar" Salah and Saad Hattar are running for Vice President.

Meanwhile, Abdullah Al-Yamani, Adnan Bariyah, Inad Abu Wendi, Tayseer Nuaimat, Khaled Qudah, Walid Hosni, Hashal Adaileh, Sami Harbi, Ohoud Mohsen, Amjad Sunaid, Dhaifallah Hdaithat, Hamza Mizher, Ali Fraihat, Zain Al-Din Khalil, Hazem Khalidi, Alem Qudah, Jamil Ghadayra Al-Barmawi, Amer Al-Smadi, Abdel-Hafiz Al-Hrout, Muwaffaq Kamal, Bilal Al-Aqayleh, Linda Ma’ayah, Jihad Al-Shawabkeh, Ayman Al-Majali, Kamel Nuseirat, Heba Sabbagh, Rana Haddad, Omar Mahrameh, Ibrahim Qubailat and Janti Zakariah, are running for a spot on the 9-strong council.