{"id":3675,"date":"2010-11-21T02:00:00","date_gmt":"2010-11-21T01:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kvinfo.dk.linux150.unoeuro-server.com\/a-shapshot-just-before-the-jordanian-election\/"},"modified":"2010-11-21T02:00:00","modified_gmt":"2010-11-21T01:00:00","slug":"a-shapshot-just-before-the-jordanian-election","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www2.kvinfo.dk\/old\/a-shapshot-just-before-the-jordanian-election\/?lang=en","title":{"rendered":"A shapshot just before the Jordanian election"},"content":{"rendered":"

AMMAN \u2013 With less than a week to go before the Jordanian parliamentary elections, women\u2019s groups in Jordan have been busy supporting female candidates and calling on women voters to head to the polls and vote for their peers next Tuesday.
\nBanners and posters have sprung up alongside the Kingdom’s roads, by polling stations and anywhere where the predominantly male candidates have found it appropriate to post something promoting themselves and their programmes.
\nHowever, campaign publicity material for female candidates has been less prevalent and barely visible in the streets. Additionally, in more conservative areas, some women have preferred to limit their campaign slogans to their names and the name of the district they in which they are running.
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\nIn other places, banners and posters of female candidates have been torn down \u2013 either by competitors or conservatives, who still believe that a women’s place should be in the home raising children. <\/p>\n

Nevertheless, former candidates and columnists alike have criticized the few banners and posters that female candidates have used to promote themselves, saying they lack substance and strong messages.
\n\u201cThe majority of the female candidates\u2019 slogans are weak and too general \u2013 and they don\u2019t reflect a strong working programme for the candidates,\u201d President of the Jordanian Women\u2019s Union (JWU) Amneh Zu\u2019bi said.
\n\u201cThe same could be said about the male candidates,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Slogans without substance<\/b><\/h2>\n

Zu\u2019bi also noted that in some districts women have refrained from putting their photos on their posters, giving only their names and the name of the districts in which they are running \u2013 a phenomenon she attributed to conservative cultural norms and traditions.
\nZu\u2019bi explained that the majority of women candidates lack funding or are incapable of supporting their campaigns financially on the same level as male candidates.
\nActivist and former candidate Emily Naffa also criticized the slogans of the women candidates stating that, in general, this year\u2019s slogans and platforms (both men\u2019s and women\u2019s) have been weak and do not challenge the current political situation.
\n\u201cThe slogans are below our expectations and do not address the political challenges that Jordan is facing in the region,\u201d she said.
\nNaffa asserted that none of the women\u2019s slogans address discrimination against women or call for changing the \u2018one person\u2013one vote\u2019 system stipulated in the current Elections Law, which she said disadvantages female candidates.
\nThe final count of women running in the November 9 elections totalled 134. In comparison, the number of male candidates standing was 629. <\/p>\n

Trained to face an audience<\/b><\/h2>\n

During the month in the run-up to the elections, women\u2019s groups have been busy trying to help female candidates by holding several training workshops on how to handle the media and participate in public debates, and they have also provided supported by producing banners and posters.
\nWomen\u2019s groups have also targeted members of the public in the hope that they would vote for the “correct female candidates” in the upcoming elections and not be confused by the quota voting system for women.
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The government recently decided to double the six-seat quota, first introduced for women in the 2003 elections (80 seats in total), to 12 seats this year (120 seats in total).
\n“We are confident that two or three more women than the allocated quota will win seats, and our efforts are also geared towards increasing the percentage of female voter turnout,” Jordanian National Commission for Women (JNCW) Secretary General Asma Khader stated. She made her comments during a recent meeting with the national coalition for the support of women candidates, at which the 45 women who had registered to run for the November 9 elections attended.
\n“We are also working on increasing the number of people who vote for women, because this will be a true reflection that society now believes more in the involvement of women in political life,” Khader added.<\/p>\n

Royal backing of women empowerment<\/b><\/h2>\n

Members of the Jordanian Royal family also joined the call for people to vote and for women to be given a strong presence in the Parliament.
\n“A woman’s voice is very important and has to be heard, whether through electoral participation or in Parliament itself,” Jordan\u2019s Queen Rania said during a field trip in early November to the Jordan River Foundation to check on empowerment programmes.
\nPrincess Basma also highlighted the active role women will play in the next Parliament to support national development, and expressed her gratitude to every woman participating in the electoral process.
\nDuring a ceremony to publish a study on gender in the public sector, the Princess said \u201csteps have been taken to engage women in the elections \u2013 both as voters and as candidates \u2013 which reflects confidence on the part of the public sector and civil society in the readiness of women to participate in the democratic process.\u201d<\/p>\n

Studies on reasons for previous failure<\/b><\/h2>\n

In late October, The JWU also organised a gathering for the female candidates at which its president urged women to unite and vote for women.
\nThe activists’ calls were based on disappointing figures in the last parliamentary elections, which indicated that only eight per cent of the voters voted for women, despite the fact that females constituted 52% of voters.
\n\"\"<\/p>\n

A UNIFEM study published in March 2007 attributed the failure of women to obtain seats in Parliament to social and political factors, including an underlying belief throughout Jordanian society that women are incapable of working in politics.
\nOther obstacles indicated by the study included the \u2018one person\u2013one-vote\u2019 system, which deters many women from running for parliament, as well as the lack of financial resources available to female candidates.<\/p>\n

Disappointment with former candidates<\/h2>\n

According to Zu’bi, these obstacles \u2013 the quota system and the \u2018one person\u2013one vote\u2019 system \u2013 resulted in the election of unqualified women who did not communicate well with the women’s movement,.
\n“We\u2019re really disappointed with the performance of the female candidates elected to sit in the last two parliaments. Despite contacting them, they never responded to our approaches and ignored our demands,” Zu’bi said at a recent function held by the JWU aimed at supporting female candidates.
\nShe added that most female candidates in past polls used to “tell us that they aren\u2019t concerned with women’s issues and that they are deputies for the nation, when, in fact, they only served their constituencies”.
\nIn the past, women activists have criticized the percentage-based quota formula which they say favours \u201cinexperienced\u201d women from smaller districts while disadvantaging experienced women from larger constituencies.<\/p>\n

Harder to be elected in the cities<\/b><\/h2>\n

Based on the percentage equation, women from smaller districts can win seats by collecting as few as 200 votes, while those in larger cities, who receive thousands of votes, may lose as the quota is calculated by the highest percentage of votes cast in a given sub district. According to the provisional law, there are 12 governorates and three \u2018badia\u2019 districts in which women may compete for election.
\nAccording to observers, this could prevent women in larger districts, such as Amman and other major cities, from winning a seat because of the \u201cunfair percentage equation\u201d.<\/p>\n

Hope after all<\/h2>\n

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