Eurasia Press & News
Jordanian political parties, which were established in less than a year, are competing in the upcoming parliamentary elections, in which they will play a pivotal role that is expected to gradually develop in the coming sessions. This imposes internal pressures on the parties to keep pace with the modernization process. This paper will address a set of policies and practices specific to the first phase of this experiment – running for office and reaching the dome – in a way that avoids the pitfalls and mistakes that may hinder its path.
Jordanian political parties face internal and societal pressures as the scheduled date for parliamentary elections approaches on September 10, 2024, in which their participation represents a fundamental pillar and an advanced stage in the path of political reform and modernization in the country, due to its repercussions on electoral behavior, parliamentary work, and future government performance. This role comes after decades of gradual reform efforts since the formulation of the National Agenda in 2005 and then the National Dialogue Committee in 2011. Official data indicates that 36 parties are participating in the elections out of 38; competing among themselves for (41) of the seats allocated to them in the upcoming Jordanian House of Representatives. By analyzing the general party and electoral scene in Jordan, we note that there is competition to attract voters and inflate numbers between parties, whether new or traditional, in an attempt to prove their capabilities and qualifications to engage in future roles in the Jordanian political arena, which imposes pressure on them to present themselves as mature parties with integrated programs, solid rules, and institutional structures. Despite the positivity of this; However, it may come at the expense of more important issues, such as its legitimacy and what is expected of it during the first phase, and the necessity of not raising the ceiling of those popular and official expectations regarding it, given its capabilities, available tools, and the seats allocated to it in the twentieth parliament, which means that it needs to rearrange its priorities to suit the requirements of the phase, and focus on the idea of gradual construction to reach a more cohesive party experience when the percentage of seats allocated to it reaches 65% in the twenty-second parliament.
Jordanian parties and the search for distinction, leadership and opportunities
The outcomes of the Royal Committee for Modernizing the Political System, formed in 2021, established a major and pivotal role for parties in political life and in future aspirations for political practice in the country. Two subcommittees out of six committees were formed to study the party and election laws, and a third subcommittee for constitutional amendments, to frame what is consistent with the outcomes of the two committees with the Jordanian constitution, especially in the context of enhancing the independence of parties and achieving separation between the executive and legislative authorities. In 2022, the Parties Law No. (7) and the Election Law for the House of Representatives No. (4) were approved, the latter coming within a gradual path of three stages, the first of which begins with allocating (30%) of the House of Representatives seats to parties, reaching (65%) of the House seats in the third stage after ten years.
The current parliamentary elections gain their importance as they are the first step in the country’s political modernization process, which comes as a continuation of a joint package of reforms that include the economic modernization vision and the public sector modernization map. In all of these paths, the state has followed a gradual approach that takes into account the stage considerations and necessities, and achieves proportionality between the outputs and the data of the environment affected by it. However, in the case of political modernization, unlike the other two paths (economic and administrative), it is more complex and complicated, as its application has moved from the direct administration of the state and government to popular political practice, which increases the responsibility on the parties as the institutions entrusted with improving this practice and reflecting its results at the state level.
Considering that many of the active and effective parties in the political arena are either new and lack experience or traditional and need fundamental reviews, this requires them to carefully study their practices, promises, programs and discourse, so that their mistakes are not reflected in popular practice, and thus in the path of modernization in general.
One of the most important issues facing the parties is to seek to differentiate themselves from the local lists first, which are likely to remain unchanged from previous elections, neither in election campaigns nor in voters’ preferences, although merging and expanding districts supports national party lists in the long run. Parties must seek to focus their propaganda, election campaigns, rhetoric, methods and practices on clarifying the differences between the local and national lists, as the latter is at the heart of political modernization, and its positive or negative results will be reflected on the parties themselves, and on the participation rates in the elections and parliamentary work of the twentieth council. Secondly, the distinction from previous applications of national lists, such as those included in Elections Law No. (25) of 2012, which granted voters a second vote for a closed proportional list at the Kingdom level, for which (27) seats were allocated at that time in the House of Representatives, taking into account the legislative and legal differences between the two experiences, and the necessity of reflecting those differences on practices as well, as the general lists, some of which were partisan, were not primarily concerned with establishing popular bases or paying attention to popular issues and levels of satisfaction, as much as they focused on bringing one or more representatives from their lists to the House of Representatives, considering it an experience that is subject to change, unlike the current experience that is more strategic in the eyes of the state.
Determine interim goals and rationalize party programs
Defining goals for Jordanian parties and working within them is a major issue within the framework of party work and its requirements. It can alleviate the pressures and burdens imposed on parties, reduce their efforts to prove themselves, clarify the path they are supposed to take, and exempt them from putting forward programs and promises that may be questioned by the public at a later stage.
The objectives of the first stage in particular, and those necessary for moving to the second and third stages, can be clarified through:
First : A gradual construction of realistic party programmes that are consistent with the gradual development of party structures, capabilities, tools and roles.
Although Jordanian parties do not use their programs as a primary tool in their election campaigns, they do extensively discuss them in television programs, debates, and podcasts. One of the most prominent problems related to this phenomenon is that the programs integrate major issues such as unemployment rates, debt, financial deficit, tax system problems, investment issues, private sector challenges, and other issues into party discussions, while the current stage does not give parties the ability to fulfill the solutions, promises, and visions they offer, as the (41) seats are likely to be distributed among 5-6 parties, which means that a number of them will not even have the minimum number of representatives allowed to propose bills, requests for interrogation, or withdrawal of confidence. Even if these parties form an alliance with representatives of local blocs, this will remain a temporary alliance under the dome of parliament, and what applies to party members does not apply to bloc members, as the former won his seat individually, while the latter won it with the support of the party.
On the other hand, many party programs came in the form of a theoretical framework, as these programs are separated from the fact that many of the issues and matters they discuss are surrounded by complexity and sensitivity due to the large number of actors in them from state institutions, the government, international agreements, and International Monetary Fund agreements, and do not match the reality of public work and the current concerns of the state, as the programs did not fit or were built according to the vision of economic modernization or the map of modernizing the public sector.
Second : Effective contribution to increasing the participation rate in the elections.
Increasing the participation rate in the Jordanian parliamentary elections is one of the main goals of political modernization, in light of the low turnout in previous elections, where the average voting rate in the past three election cycles was about 32%. Increasing this rate requires specialized party practices for this purpose, taking into account the intensity of engagement and directing a thoughtful discourse to specific segments of society, which can be motivated to positively reflect on participation, in addition to a set of internal practices in the parties to benefit from their members and their surroundings.
In this regard, it is suggested that parties intensify their campaigns and non-traditional activities in the governorates of Amman, Irbid and Zarqa, as these three governorates have the highest population density in the Kingdom, and participation rates are often low compared to other governorates. The responsibility of motivating and encouraging these areas to participate lies with the parties, considering that their lists are national and have the ability to be active in various governorates of the Kingdom. It is assumed that they have the financial solvency that enables them to engage in intensive advertising campaigns in these governorates compared to local lists that are limited in scope and spread, with the necessity of diversifying advertising campaigns to include opinion polls, seminars, conferences and workshops organized in these governorates, and carrying out voluntary and field campaigns in various governorates and regions of the Kingdom.
On the other hand, it is useful to focus on first-time eligible voters, who number about 590,000, or about 12% of the total number of eligible voters. The participation of this young group is important in attracting them as party members, ensuring their repeated participation in the elections, and avoiding their reluctance, which would be reflected in future participation rates. In order to attract this group, parties should organize election campaigns specifically for young people by enhancing the media presence of their young cadres, and perhaps employing social media platforms and their activists, as the response of this voting bloc to elite discourse, party programs, and major issues within them may be weak and outside their interests.
There is also a need to benefit from party members who exceed 88 thousand, or about 2% of those eligible to vote. They constitute a voting bloc in the elections and are a major factor in attracting broader segments of society to participate. However, this should have been taken into consideration by the parties when they choose the party list with which they will run in the elections, as they are supposed to participate by voting or nominating members of the party list. However, information indicates that most parties have chosen their lists in limited deliberations by party leaders, and excluded other members who constitute the largest number and the most important voting bloc for the party. However, many parties may have included this number of members in order to complete the conditions of the parties’ law, which requires the presence of a thousand founding members in the party to register it, which means that 38 thousand out of 88 thousand joined in order to complete the founding members of the parties.
Third : Renewing the faces, elites, and political and parliamentary figures, by qualifying new and effective leaders.
In fact, the current stage does not require parties to be completely programmatic, and this does not mean that they are heading towards populism or ideology, as much as their experience is enhanced by their being popular parties capable of reading the street and harmonizing with it, not within the framework of theoretical programs, or programs that can be criticized and point to many of the main issues that are absent from their content, but rather by being active in more specialized and precise issues and fields, and by working to improve political practices and contribute to addressing the phenomenon of abstention from elections, and correcting parliamentary work that suffers from low levels of satisfaction with it.
Among the proposals is for parties to diversify their media appearances and election campaigns, and not to be satisfied with traditional figures, whether statesmen, former ministers and representatives, or traditional party figures, as it is noted that these are the ones who have recently led the party and media scene, which has been reflected in the parties’ ability to engage in the street, influence it, or attract young people, as many of them are linked to the popular mentality, either by the government discourse that does not enjoy wide trust in the street, or by the ideological discourse that has begun to arouse the resentment and fears of many citizens about its external connections and real goals. This does not mean asking them to disappear from the scene, but rather not to appear at the expense of other party members or the candidates themselves.
Taking into account:
1- The media appearance of the party’s candidates distinguishes them from the candidates of the local blocs, shows the party’s internal cohesion and the soundness of its institutional structure, increases its chances of attracting members, and increases the percentage of those interested in knowing the party, its program, and its agenda. These are opportunities that are not provided by the appearance of traditional figures whose speech and style are almost expected by the follower.
2- The media appearance of non-candidate party members and granting them freedom of action and speech reflects the intellectual strength of the party and the political consensus among its members, and provides space for young people to market the party’s ideology within their age group. Otherwise, the membership of this group will become frozen, or they may withdraw from the party at the end of the elections.
3- Providing space for parties and their members to present written content – which is noted to be close to zero – whether studies, articles or blogs. This is considered a very important and effective means of transmitting the party’s ideas and increasing its influence.
An important issue, despite its sensitivity, is related to the regional circumstances accompanying the elections, specifically the war in the Gaza Strip and the escalation in the West Bank. Although the decision to hold the elections is evidence of Jordan’s ability to manage its internal affairs despite all the surrounding circumstances and its immunity from being affected by regional circumstances for decades, this does not ignore the potential impact of the war on electoral practice from two aspects; First: its impact on voter orientations, especially in light of the attempt by ideological parties to exploit the state of war to mobilize citizens and enhance their chances of increasing their parliamentary seats. Second: the potential for its reflection on the participation rate in the elections, as the Jordanian parliamentary elections were previously held in 2020, overcoming fears related to the Covid-19 pandemic, but that did not prevent its reflection on the participation rates, which reached their lowest level at 29%.
Fourth : The priority of improving parliamentary work before looking towards a partisan government.
The most important thing that parties can offer during the first phase of political modernization is to raise the level of parliamentary work and improve it. Perhaps their ability to reflect the negative image of the House of Representatives among citizens will be their most prominent achievement in the twentieth parliament. Highlighting this goal should be a fundamental pillar in the election campaigns of Jordanian parties, as they must show the expected changes in the parliamentary scene when they participate. During the nineteenth parliament, two deputies were dismissed and the membership of two others was frozen. Two of them appeared before the State Security Court, one on charges of insulting His Majesty the King and society, and the other on charges of arms smuggling. The benefits of this are not limited to comparing the parliament before and after the parties, but also in enhancing the opportunities of new parties, compared to the traditional parties that were part of those scenes and active in some of them.
In this context, parties should take into consideration:
1- Diversifying the party’s proposals and speeches in a manner that is consistent with the aspirations of the street, and that the party’s speech should not be rigid or traditional, and that it should depend on following up on public opinion and working to frame that opinion in the House of Representatives, as this is considered one of the most prominent functions of the parties as a body that represents the aspirations and ideas of the citizens and places them on the agenda of the House of Representatives.
2- Parties must play an awareness-raising and educational role in managing parliamentary trends, and the party’s internal departments must include a department specialized in conducting studies, research, and opinion polls to measure public opinion and benefit from the outcomes of that activity in its parliamentary role.
Finally , the current experience in Jordan, with the remaining days before the elections, and the space available for parties to work during them, provides a window for them to launch and build cumulative experience, rationalize their election campaigns and programs in line with the requirements of each stage, maintain their roles in the street, strengthen their electoral bases, and adopt practices different from local lists.
