Ammon News - The Cabinet, at a session held Wednesday and chaired by Prime Minister Jafar Hassan, approved a draft law amending the Independent Election Commission Law of 2026.

The draft law was prompted by the need to update a number of provisions in line with legislative developments resulting from the political modernization process, strengthening the Commission’s ability to exercise its constitutional and legal responsibilities efficiently and effectively.

Under the proposed amendments, Commission employees would be prohibited from joining any political party for as long as they work for the Commission, in order to safeguard its neutrality. The Commission is responsible for registering political parties and following up on their affairs. The amendments would also require any Commission employee wishing to stand in an election administered or supervised by the Commission to take unpaid leave at least 90 days before the election. If elected, the employee would be deemed to have resigned.

The amendments would also update the Commission’s powers and responsibilities in line with the Political Parties Law and bring digital election campaign tools within the forms of campaigning subject to oversight to ensure compliance with the law. They would also update provisions governing Commission employees and align them with the Human Resources Management Bylaw for the public sector, strengthening institutional neutrality and improving performance efficiency.

The amendments would provide greater clarity on the scheduling of municipal elections and any other elections assigned to the Commission by the Cabinet. They would also regulate the authority to cancel or postpone voting at polling and counting centres when circumstances arise that could affect the integrity of the electoral process, ensuring that elections are conducted properly and maintaining their integrity and transparency.