1. Political Conditions in Jordan

1.1 Participation in Public Life and Its Impact on Women in Jordan

Jordan has seen important achievements in recent years regarding women’s rights and empowerment and the raising of their status in society. In addition to increasingly entering the workplace, education and politics, women have recently obtained a number of rights, represented in amendments to some laws, including a quota of seats for women in Parliament and provisions related to divorce initiated by the wife, male polygamy, and the raising of the legal age of marriage. In addition, a gender perspective was incorporated in the five-year national development plan for 1999–2003 in various state institutions and government departments.
Women’s participation in public life and politics became a central concern after the setting up in 1954 of the Arab Women’s Federation, whose role was focused on boosting women’s political awareness, in addition to eradicating illiteracy and preparing women to exercise their rights. Among other things, the federation gathered signatures for a petition calling for women to be given the right to vote and stand for office and for this right to be granted to illiterate women, as illiterate men enjoyed these rights.

1.1.1. Women’s Issues Drowned in the Political Chaos of the Region

Unfortunately, electoral activity was banned in Jordan in 1957 after martial law was declared following major political upheavals in the region. This situation was to last until 1989. After the 1967 defeat by Israel and the flight of many Palestinians to Arab countries, especially Jordan, women’s activities began to appear as part of the general political mobilization that was under way. Thousands of women’s demonstrations were organized, but this did not take place through specific organizations. Women’s movements became part of the pan-Arab nationalist struggle, in which women’s issues were considered less important.
Women’s activism returned to the scene in an organized fashion at the beginning of the 1970s thanks to the United Nations (UN) Year of the Woman. All women received the right to vote and stand for office in 1974, although they were unable to exercise these rights under martial law. Thereafter, influenced by the international women’s agenda, a broad group of specialized women’s organizations began to appear.
Through seminars, conferences and media campaigns, they organized their domestic agenda, raising issues such as violence, ‘crimes of honour’, and the need for legislation banning discrimination—all issues that are still being raised today. They have conducted intensive awareness and educational programmes, carry out training programmes for female voters and candidates, maintain contact with leading political and intellectual figures to open channels of dialogue with them, and build relationships with the media. There is a considerable female presence (estimated at about 30,000) in voluntary and civil organizations.
Recently, the Jordan First initiative, launched by the state in 2003 prior to the elections that produced the current legislature, established a committee to deal with women’s issues tasked with submitting proposals to boost female participation in public life. The royal family has also supported amendments to various laws, such as the Temporary Law on Personal Status and Passports, which give women rights as a person or citizen.

© ANND, International IDEA (2005)

1.1.2. Women and the Executive and Judicial Bodies and Political Parties

There has been some female participation in the executive branch of government, in positions that are filled by appointment. The first female Cabinet member was named in 1976. Six governments and eight years later, in 1984, a second woman was appointed minister, and another nine years passed before one more woman reached this status in 1993. Since 1997, of the four governments formed, three have had women members. Such representation has been basically symbolic (one female Cabinet member at most).
Participation in drafting government policies also involves the judicial corps, which in Jordan is not an independent body but affiliated with the Ministry of Justice. The number of female judges has risen to 16, or just 3.2 per cent of the kingdom’s judges.
As for participation of women in political parties, there is no female presence worth mentioning in three out of 31 active parties, while the percentage of women in the remainder of the parties is only 8 per cent of the founding committee in the best of cases.
To encourage women to participate in local politics, the Cabinet appointed 99 women in 1994 to municipal committees that were formed to prepare for elections to municipal councils and mayors. As a result, an unprecedented 20 women stood in the elections of 1995, one of them winning a mayor’s seat and nine winning council seats, while 23 others were appointed to councils under a legal provision that allows the government to appoint 50 per cent of the seats. The number of female candidates has risen since, with varying results, and in 2003, 27 per cent (or 94) of the total appointed seats were granted to women in order to secure at least one female member in each municipal council.

1.1.3 The Legislature

Such affirmative action is also present in the Election Law, which the government amended in 2002 to include a quota for women of six parliamentary seats (out of 110). In 2003, six female candidates secured parliamentary seats, none of them by standing for election, showing that affirmative action was necessary to ensure female participation.
The extensive politicization of women’s issues of the past two decades has led the Islamist movement to develop its own female discourse, which differs from the patriarchal discourse in that it deals with women in terms not of morals but of rights.

1.2. The Political Parties

In Jordan, political parties go back to the founding of the state and experience with parties has undergone various phases. The constitution of 1952 stated the right of citizens to set up and join political parties, and this was confirmed by the Political Parties Law of 1955. In that period, Jordan had active parties and held parliamentary elections that led to a coalition government formed by the whole of the country’s political spectrum. In 1957, martial law was declared and parties were banned until 1989. A new Political Parties Law was issued in 1992 and life began to return to the old political parties, while new ones emerged. They have participated as such in three parliamentary elections since then (in 1993, 1997 and 2003) but have not been able to play their role in democratic transformation and political participation. As of June 2003, there were 31 licensed parties.

1.2.1. Political Parties and Regional Politics

In the beginning, political parties were a reflection of traditional social structures. Some had pan-Arab nationalist orientations. Others were Jordanian nationalist in orientation and sought to act as an active opposition to the governments of the day and against British influence in the country. Between 1928 and 1935, these parties held five national conferences, with wide representation of tribes as well as intellectuals, professionals, and religious and ethnic minorities. Laws were passed that limited their right to assembly and opposition figures were exiled or put under house arrest, which had a negative effect on political life in the next decade.
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The post-World War II period saw new leaderships emerge, in particular that of the Muslim Brotherhood, led by merchants and businessmen, and party life was much influenced by challenges in the region and the Arab world, such as the loss of Palestine, and issues such as freedom and liberation from imperialism, the emergence of the communist and socialist trend throughout the world, and Arab unity.
Large segments of the population—the middle class, professionals, workers and members of tribes— joined these parties. After 1957, parties went underground.
After the 1967 war and Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, most parties’ sole concern was to liberate Palestine. Parties being illegal, they remained active through legal and licensed organizations, such as labour unions and professional associations. Leftist and nationalist parties exercised a considerable degree of domination over these unions and associations, and their influence continues.
In the mid-1980s, Jordan experienced a severe economic crisis and the government began to implement a structural adjustment programme under the supervision of the World Bank. This led to a popular intifada, which began to demand democracy. The separation of the West Bank in 1988 helped prepare the domestic political and legal climate for a return to parliamentary life: parties and party members took part in the 1989 parliamentary elections.
Before the Political Parties Law of 1955, the executive branch controlled matters by registering political parties. After Jordan achieved independence in 1946, there were growing calls for party-related legislation.
However, the Political Parties Law of 1955 gave the Cabinet the right to accept or reject applications for licensing and the right to dissolve a party, its decisions being final and not subject to appeal, giving the government the possibility of preventing parties from carrying out normal, free political activity.

1.2.2. The Current Political Parties Law

The current Political Parties Law (of 1992) grants the minister of the interior the power to announce the setting up of the party if he finds that the application has satisfied all the provisions of the law. It protects the party’s headquarters and communications from surveillance and seizure, and sets down a number of strict controls on the activity of parties, including financial regulations, and relations with other states and foreign parties. In contrast to its predecessor, it gives parties the opportunity to resort to the judiciary to challenge a decision by the minister of the interior if he fails to announce the formation of any political party.
This law should be considered one of the benefits of the period of democratic openness, a transitional stage from an era in which the state completely dominated political life to an era of change towards a reequilibration of the relationship between state and society in a democratic regime. In the prevailing political culture, the executive authorities are hostile to political parties, and in fact the Political Parties Law fails to stipulate the right of parties to participate in government or rotate in office, although there is nothing in the law to prevent them from doing so. On the other hand, the legacy and culture of parties that were formed underground during the 30 years of martial law did not lead to a tradition of democratic practice of open, legitimate, and peaceful activity or develop a mechanism of transferring such activity to the spheres of Parliament, institutions and the public. The law can and should be improved to free it fromthe more excessive measures that reflect a lack of trust in the past and current position of the parties, and should also clarify the legal status of parties and the objective of democratic rotation in office. In the period following the issuing of the Political Parties Law, ideological parties that had previously been illegal (Arab nationalist, leftist and Islamist) were licensed. After that new parties arose, most of which do not have more than several hundred members. The parties can be divided into four broad groups: Islamist, leftist, Arab nationalist, and centrist or Jordanian nationalist. Generally speaking, parties do not practise democracy internally, within the party structures themselves, and this casts some doubt on their commitment to the democratic process.
As for the political performance of parties, it is modest when it comes to getting their members elected to Parliament. Most members are independents or are elected on the basis of tribal ties. Most parties in fact do not declare their candidates, who stand as independents for fear that voters from tribal and rural areas will refrain from voting for them if they are seen as affiliated with a political party.
© ANND, International IDEA (2005)

1.2.3. Political Parties and Tribal Politics

The weakness of the political parties in Jordan can be seen largely as being due to their being banned for 30 years. At the founding of the Jordanian kingdom, the tribe was the most important political and social organization, and played an important role in the formation of the new state. In the 1950s, the spread of pan-Arab nationalism, among other factors, reduced its role, especially regarding mass political action, but during the long interval of martial law the role of the tribe resurfaced. In the absence of political parties, the state dealt directly with society through various of its segments, and the tribes in particular. This situation meant that parties were not necessary as a channel for people to reach the authorities, as providers of services or to solve problems. While tribal organization adjusted and evolved to become a pillar of society in its dealings with the state, the parties were not allowed to do this and were left outside the process of political development, and today various segments of society do not see parties as a means to achieving their goals.
The Jordan First initiative and the committees set up as a result, including one on political parties, reflect the state’s desire to improve political party life and its awareness of the importance of political parties in the democratic transformation, as well as its awareness that there is currently a problem that must be solved. The Committee on Political Parties has stated that there can be no democracy without effective political parties and made a number of recommendations, some addressed to the state and some to parties. The state has indicated a desire for patriotic parties to participate in the process of political development as part of Jordan’s democratic transformation, and the king himself has proposed that parties merge into three or four parties based on specific political and ideological orientations.

1.3. Electoral Systems

The last four elections (in 1989, 1993, 1997 and 2003) produced various types of practices and rituals connected with the election process—a type of election culture. In the 1950s, candidates came mostly from the ranks of political or party activists, and parties enjoyed a reasonable degree of freedom. Today, after party activity was banned for over 30 years, a large number of candidacies for election to Parliament are on a tribal or individual, independent basis, which explains the very large number of candidates, some of whom gain only a few dozens or hundreds of votes, which indicates that there is no objective justification for their standing.

1.3.1. The Election Culture

Elections are occasions for very lively social activity on a local basis. Candidacies are often declared long before the campaign season, with future candidates working to build their presence in society and improve their ties to the public, for instance, by sending congratulations and gifts on occasions such as weddings and participating at public meetings, whatever their nature. Upon the official opening of the campaign, political, social and tribal groups select candidates and declare candidacies through newspapers, contacts or invitations to meetings. Within a number of tribes a preliminary vote takes place to select a candidate, or more than one if the tribe extends across more than one electoral district. Party candidates announce themselves as such, individually or as a group. Independent candidates simply declare that they have opened their electoral headquarters.
Campaign headquarters become meeting places for friends, relatives and supporters, sometimes until late at night, with much discussion, while sweets, coffee and cigarettes, and sometimes meals, are offered.
The weeks leading up to the election feature rallies, banners with campaign slogans, and debates. The election process itself routinely involves accusations of voting fraud of all kinds. When the results are announced, the winning candidates’ headquarters come alive with celebrations. In the days that follow, the newspapers print announcements congratulating the winners and statements by losing candidates.
© ANND, International IDEA (2005)

Among the most important of the beliefs underlying this election culture is that elections are at heart a tribal affair. There is also the prevalent belief that the office of deputy allows its holder to provide services for people and to relay people’s demands to government decision makers. However, in the popular consciousness ‘deputy’ also means a lack of credibility and failure to honour commitments and promises.
The idea of the deputy as a representative of the entire people, exercising legislative authority and able to hold the government accountable, is far from the minds of the citizens.

1.3.2. The Election Process

Promulgated in 1947, the first constitution of the newly independent Kingdom of Jordan granted the king exceptional powers. Legislative authority was vested in the National Legislature and the king. The legislature was made up of a Chamber of Notables and a Chamber of Deputies. A new constitution adopted in 1952 strengthened the power of the legislative and judicial authorities and introduced some controls on the executive, while clearly mentioning a large number of basic freedoms and rights for individuals.
In 1957, flying in the face of the constitution, all political parties were banned. The period up to 1993 saw much political turmoil due to the conflicts in the region, with many amendments to the constitution, executive authority recovering its absolute power, elections being suspended or delayed, and the election laws being amended and re-amended. Before the 1993 parliamentary election, the government issued a new amended version of the Election Law which is known as the ‘one-vote law’. This replaced earlier provisions that gave voters the right to select a number of candidates equal to or less than the number of seats in a given district with a new system that allowed them to vote for only one candidate. In addition to increasing the number of deputies to 104, the law set aside six seats for women, for a total of 110 deputies, representing one seat for every 47,109 people.
In practice, the Ministry of the Interior runs the entire election process. The Higher Committee for Election Supervision, chaired by the minister of the interior, settles all issues relayed by the Central Election Committees in the various governorates. Finally, the minister forms a special committee, headed by an administrative governor, to follow up on the task of filling the additional seats designated for women.

1.3.3. Districting and the Electoral Law

There are 45 electoral districts. Districting is considered unfair because of a lack of balance between population and the numbers of seats per district. The division of districts is claimed to guarantee representation for the ‘less fortunate areas’ and to prevent the capital, Amman, from taking the majority of seats, but is seen as fanning the spirit of tribal competition and strengthening the concept of the ‘services deputy’ who concentrates on his or her electoral district. Districting is also seen as intended to reduce the representation of areas heavily populated by Jordanians of Palestinian origin.
There are many legal infractions and gaps in the implementation of the Electoral Law. Examples in the most recent (2003) election include opposition figures being prevented from standing under weak legal pretexts and the authorities closing their eyes to phenomena such as vote-buying and allowing voters to vote twice through false measures. The government’s role in election supervision is seen as allowing it to move the elections in the direction it wants.
© ANND, International IDEA (2005)

2. Obstacles to and Recommendations for a Political Reform Agenda for Jordan

Participation by women in public life, the life of political parties and the electoral system face a number of common obstacles.

2.1. A Difficult Historical Legacy

The first of these is the legacy of the more than 30-year ban on political parties. Jordanians were deprived of the chance to exercise their constitutional right to party political activity, and society continues to suffer from very negative effects of this even a decade after the ban was lifted. For women in particular, this is expressed by the fact that during that period there was no legal body through which their concerns could be submitted to the legislature. Furthermore, in the absence of parties with national concerns, political activity was oriented to pan-Arab concerns, which did not include gender concerns in any way. For the political parties, the ban resulted in a weakening of their potential to develop their position as representing concerns to be put before the legislature and to develop convincing political platforms, in their being negative image and in a popular fear of belonging to parties, as well as in a strengthening of tribal bonds at their expense, as seen above.

2.2. The Tribal Factor, the One-Vote System, the ‘Services Deputy’ and Unfair Districting

Today, the tribal factor, the ‘one-vote system’, as it is called, the ‘services deputy’ phenomenon and unfair districting are all obstacles that reinforce each other, to the detriment of women, parties and the electoral system.
The tribe and its representatives are the actors most obstinately opposed to addressing women’s issues and efforts to politicize women: female candidates have indicated that they have been subjected to criticism and ridicule by tribal leaders and elders. However, to retain the support of the tribe they represent, female candidates will also give up advocacy of women’s issues. The tribal nature of the elections makes them seem more like family or social celebrations and gives the legislature a serviceoriented aspect, which distances it from the wider political–ideological discourse and weakens the impact of political institutions. Because women have a limited presence in political positions and positions of influence, the belief that they can provide services is very limited as well. Similarly, the Single Non- Transferable Vote system (SNTV) gives tribes the strongest say in securing victories for their candidates, and tribes support male over female candidates. Furthermore, the SNTV system means voting for individuals, which ignores the role of political parties, thus holding back the political development the country needs.
More marginally, but as in most countries, candidates’ financial capacities play an essential role.
Although the financial resources of parties are strictly monitored, candidates rarely stand on the basis of party platforms or funds. Much of the campaigning costs consists of expenses related to ‘hosting’ voters, which is not illegal, and (in too many instances) of vote-buying, which is illegal. Women are clearly at a disadvantage in this area. This too, along with the one-vote system, reinforces the tribal and clan phenomena and thus weakens the political parties.

2.3. Is the Quota System and Obstacle Or an Asset?

The evaluation of the quota system in this report turns up some contradictions. The electoral system uses quotas for regions and for religious and ethnic minorities, as well as for women. Supporters of the quota system praise it as a form of affirmative action without which women, in particular, would not have seats in the Chamber of Deputies or in municipal councils. It is criticized, however, because the mechanism used to determine the winners of the seats set aside for women in the legislature all but cancels out the chances of female candidates from large electoral districts. Another view is that the Chamber of Deputies is not a cake to be divided between tribes, sects, ethnic groups and women via quotas but an organization that comprises elected representatives of the citizenry, who in turn represent parties.
© ANND, International IDEA (2005)

One of the recommendations of the Committee on Political Parties is that the SNTV system in the Election Law should be amended by setting aside 20 per cent of the seats for party lists—that is, by introducing another quota. Another of its recommendations is that the quotas for women in the three branches of government should be raised to 20–30 per cent. According to some women’s organizations, quotas have a negative impact on women, who represent 50 per cent of society and should not be represented as a minority, while the Jordanian Women’s Document, produced after the 2003 elections by a number of human rights and women’s organizations, states that no gender should be represented by less than 30 per cent of parliamentary seats.

2.4. A Few, or Rather, Many Recommendations

This report is rich in recommendations produced by government committees and civil society organizations, as well as by the authors of the research. While the diagnoses concur as to the problems that need to be faced and solved—except for the quota system—the recommendations are quite diverse and not always consistent with each other.
There seems to be agreement that, following the long ban on political parties, Jordan is currently in a transitional ‘democratization’ period that should lead to further and fundamental changes in the Political Parties Law and the Election Law, as well as the Publications Law, the law on public assemblies and the Social Associations Law. Reform would definitely include a review of the one-vote system, the setting up of an independent national body for election supervision that would include representatives of political parties, and redistricting so that the number of seats allocated to a given district is in proportion to the size of the population. The ‘services deputy’ phenomenon could disappear if governments made sufficient effort to provide services on a fair basis to all regions, without the need for deputies as go-betweens. A stiffening of the punishments for electoral infractions and enforcement of the law would also support positive trends.
One recommendation suggests that another level should be introduced, which would give a voter two votes—one in the ‘individual’ electoral district and a second for a nationwide party list. This list would contain the names of female candidates, and Christian, Circassian, Chechen and Bedouin candidates, thus removing the need for quotas.
In any case, political development and democratic reform are urgent national tasks in which the ruling system, including educational institutions, civil society groups, political parties and the national legislature should all participate, along with popular forces. People must feel that the government’s negative stance towards political parties has finally changed and that official constraints on civil society have definitely been lifted. The good news, as can be seen from the analyses and observations above, is that the country is ready for a broad national debate involving all actors, without exception, in a dialogue through which the concept of citizenship as the founding factor of democracy can be defined, promoted, and finally truly ‘owned’ by all participants, from the state to the individual. Much has been achieved, and much more can be done.


© International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA)
© The Arab NGO Network for Development (ANND)
2005
© ANND, International IDEA (2005)