AMMAN – The Independent Elections Commission (IEC) on Tuesday announced that the upcoming parliamentary elections will be held on January 23, 2013, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.
The IEC also announced that filing candidacy applications for the elections will start on December 22 and will continue for three days, according to the law.
All public employees, including ministers, who wish to run for elections have to resign 60 days before the start of the candidacy period, which means before October 22, according to Article 11 of the Elections Law.
Around 2.3 million voters registered for the landmark polls, which most probably will be held without the participation of major opposition groups.
There are no exact figures on the number of eligible voters, but it is believed to be more than three million, half a million of them expatriate Jordanians most of whom are working in Gulf countries.
The registration process, which started on August 7, and ended Sunday, went “smoothly”, according to Civil Status and Passports Department (CSPD) Director Marwan Qteishat. Officials described the outcome as a success and an indication of the public’s interest in reforms.
The IEC on Sunday formed election committees for the country’s 45 districts and, on the following day, published their addresses.
The commission delegated its powers to these committees to manage the elections in their relevant districts.
The CSPD will provide the IEC with a “preliminary” voter list in few days, according to IEC Spokesperson Hussein Bani Hani. The list will be final when a legal contesting period ends and all contests are responded to.
In a statement issued Monday by the IEC, the commission said it carefully selected members in these committees to ensure that they are qualified enough to manage the elections. The IEC included members of civil society in addition to women to widen representation in the panels.
