FIRST JORDAN MUNICIPAL ELECTION ...31 JULY 2007

copy and paste.........

AMMAN, Jordan — Pro-government and independent candidates swept local elections in Jordan, including the first-ever vote for city mayors, official results showed Wednesday.
Despite a boycott by the Islamic Action Front — the country's largest opposition party — four candidates from the fundamentalist group won municipal council seats.

Elections were held nationwide to elect town mayors and local councils except in the capital Amman where the mayor and half of the 44-member council will be appointed by the King, with voters electing the other 22 members.

The largest Muslim opposition group withdrew from Jordan's first ever elections for city mayors Tuesday, marring a vote the government touted as an important democratic reform and setting the stage for a possible confrontation over parliament elections later this year.

Tuesday's municipal election was the first time Jordanians were directly choosing their mayors, previously appointed by the king. Jordan's 1.9 million eligible voters were also electing all members of their municipal councils, choosing from 2,325 candidates for the 1,022 seats. Previously, the king appointed half the members.

Several hours into voting, the IAF abruptly announced it was pulling its 90 candidates from the race and accused the government of fraud by allowing multiple voting by some military personnel.

The government strongly denied the charge and accused the IAF of seeking to boost its position by tarnishing the state's reputation ahead of the more significant parliamentary elections in November.

The IAF is the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood movement and has 17 seats in the 110-member parliament. But the group has lost much of its clout in recent years for failing to deliver on pledges to address rampant unemployment and poverty.

Voters in Amman elected only half of the capital's 68-member municipal council while the king was still to appoint the other half, along with the mayor. The move seemed to reflect concern over the opposition IAF's strong following among the capital's poor.

King Abdullah II has touted the municipal polls as part of democratic and social reforms. Women were allotted 20 percent of council seats, in contrast to the 2003 vote when only five were selected. The voting age was also lowered by one year to 18 to allow greater participation.
Minister of Municipalities Nader al-Theheirat said the results showed that independents and pro-government candidates swept the elections. Women also fared well in the polls, Al-Theheirat said in a press conference late Wednesday.

Rana Khalaf al-Hajaya, a female engineer, was elected mayor of the southern town of Hassa — unprecedented for an area considered a Bedouin tribal hub, where men traditionally dominate the political scene.

Women also showed up at the polls in higher numbers. Final results had women's turnout outside the capital at 65 percent, compared to 59 percent for men.

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I was up to nose when the this election was taking place, so, I didn't have a chance to 'study' and get myself really involved into the election. One thing that I observed while being on a few taxis prior to the election , the campaign was mostly using only banners and in some areas they distributed the photos of the candidates especially on Fridays ( at the mosques ) . Since this is the municipal not the parliamentary ( will be held in November this year ) , most of the candidates were engineers .... I noticed here in Jordan an engineer is identified by his 'mohandes/engineer ' title... for instance they would call an engineer ...Mr. Engineer /Mohandes Anuar Nordin....it's like the Dr. title .....

On Tuesday morning , before my darling hubby left Amman, he had a chance to be somewhere near the polling station ( a school nearby our house ), he only saw a few boys 'working' as 'perayu undi ' and the election looked like 'nothing happened '...... very quiet, no wailing / shouting/ fighting.... not like in our homeland.....

Yesterday, while on my way back from Carrefour , I saw all banners were 'cleaned' and collected from the lamp-posts and other popular spots for hanging the banners.

I get to go and check whether the 'bald mohandes' or ' hairy moustache mohandes' won the municipal council for my area...... If I were to choose.... is it gonna be the BALD or HAIRY....BALD or HAIRY......BALD or HAIRY..... which one is more handsome.....has yet to decide..... hehehehe.