Although the press coverage focused on the negative reflections about the performance of the Parliament my main concern was going for the root cause of all the inability of the democratization process to launch in Jordan which is the one man one vote electoral system. Again this is my own assumption.
I found out that according to the poll the majority of the sample of 1,722 respondents thought otherwise. About 34% of the respondents thought that the best electoral system is the currently used one where one vote is provided for a condidate in a district of more than one seat. In addition, 27% think that the best system is one vote and one district for each seat which will mean a real war in elections between tribes. The two forms of the one man vote system account for 61% which is a real majority. Only 17% favored the proportional list for a district (the 1989 system) while only 11% were positive about the proportional list at the national level (Jordan as one electoral district).
It is really frustrating to read this. I cannot claim I know why such s system is being rooted in the mentality of people. Is it because it has been used for 14 yaers now and has the image of an untouchable system? is it due to fear from islamists or from a domination of Jordanians from palestinian origins in urban areas? is it the best one that suits the real cultural features of tribalism in the Jordanian society?
Maybe one possible answer can be the fact that the majority of respondents believe that the role of a deputee is to provide services to the community and not political engagement, monitoring of goverment performance and developing legislation. In the same poll around 73% of respondents thought that the tasks of the Parliament are economic and service oriented (fighting poverty, providing jobs, stopping inflation and price increases) while only 6% linked Parliament to its real constitutional role of legislation and monitoring.
We can of course blame the various governments for the lack of willingness to develop a modern and politically representative and interactive electoral law. However, it seems that the one man vote system and the service parliament image has been rooted in the Jordanian society which makes it very hard to eradicate such a conviction. Mabrouk for all conservatives and tribal leaders who worked relentlessly to reduce Jordan to a big tribe worthy of the 18th century instead of a developed and modern country.