Overview
This report “Democracy in Jordan: Women’s political participation, the development of political party life and democratic elections” compiles the findings of IDEA's project “Democracy in the Arab world” in Jordan. The report provides comparative analysis and information on good practice on three interconnected themes: the political participation of women, the development of political parties and electoral system reform.
Political participation of women
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.
Development of 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.
Electoral system reform
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.
This country report will be part of the final “Democracy in the Arab World”.
