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Hadeel Ghabboun

Amman- Political parties, since the results of their participation in the elections of the nineteenth parliament 2020, have been conducting internal reviews to find out the internal and external factors that impeded their access to Parliament, or those that lost their voting power to reduce their representation to more than half in an election season. Observers considered it the "worst" of organized and partisan political forces.

Among the parties that were keen to conduct these reviews, in order to compensate for their political participation despite their electoral losses or the decline in their representation in Parliament; The Democratic People’s Party (Hashd), affiliated with the nationalist and left-wing opposition parties, the Islamic Action Front and its National Reform Alliance, and the Zamzam National Congress Party, the most recently established and affiliated with the “National Coalition of Centrist Political Parties.”

The most prominent failure factors, albeit relatively according to the reviews of these parties, intersected in 3 common factors, first embodied in the election law, and what they described as interference in “list engineering” through pressures exerted on some of their candidates on the lists, apart from investing in the Corona pandemic by intimidating “voters”. From the pandemic, banning electoral headquarters and legalizing advertising, which was reflected in the size of the weakest since the return of the country’s democratic life, and a voting rate of only 29.9% was recorded.

The results, which were considered shocking, the ceremonial announcement of the Ministry of Political and Parliamentary Affairs on October 27, 2020, disappointed 41 parties and 397 candidates for the first time in the history of the electoral seasons, as only 17 parties and coalitions in the nineteenth parliament won seats out of 130 seats. Two of them withdrew from the National Reform Alliance later, bringing the total number to 15. The government recognized 12 of them, for their affiliation with parties.

The Islamic Action Front and its partners in the National Reform Alliance lost more than half of their voting power in the 2020 elections, bringing their candidates to about 84,000 votes (6% of the votes cast), compared to 157 thousand in the 2016 elections, or 10.6%.

The Secretary of "Islamic Action", Thabet Assaf, asserts in an interview with "Al-Ghad" that these announced numbers do not in any way represent the real voices of the party and its allies, referring to the party's loss, to the extensive interventions of some official bodies in the nominations and "the engineering of the lists" in a way. Mousbak, apart from what he said that he interfered in the counting processes that the coalition observers were unable to follow, due to the three days of quarantine that followed the holding of the elections, while the current election law remains a decisive factor in “tearing” society, all of which are among the basic normative factors, according to him.

He says, "The impact of the election law does not reflect a true representation of society and the will of the voters, and I am not only talking about the Islamic Action Front party, but all the organized political forces, except for the systematic intimidation practiced by the official authorities from the pandemic and the intimidation of the numbers of infections with the Corona virus, and the reluctance of voters to go to the polls Although it has a lower standard weight.”

These reasons, Assaf believes, are reinforced by the monitoring reports announced by the Al-Hayat Monitor (specializing in monitoring elections and parliament), the National Center for Human Rights, and other international reports, detailing the volume of vote buying and tampering.

Assaf does not separate the restrictions on partisan life in general, from the continuous pressure on partisans in general, from the elections in general, and said, "We periodically resign from party affiliates as a result of official pressure."

He continued by saying, “For example, in 2019, about 10 party members submitted their resignations, as a result of pressure, and some were threatened not to hire their relatives, and many of them did not respond to pressure. At the airport, there is a distortion of partisan work, and there is a disregard for the official media regarding partisan work.”

Assaf points out that despite the official figures announced by the Independent Election Commission, the party is fully convinced that these figures are incorrect, citing the strength of the party's suffrage party bases and supporters in the elections.

He added, "The party's solid voting block, as organized forces, was obligated to vote for all members of our lists, which led to the recording of close results between our candidates, unlike the other lists, and the law gives you practically less than a vote, an eighth or nine votes, and not a real full vote, and I think that more than 70% of the votes were wasted.”

The Islamic Action Front conducted a detailed, expanded internal study of 297 pages, which dealt with the internal and external factors that were reflected in the election results. Assaf said, “Everything related to internal reasons is a reflection of external factors, such as official restrictions, a negative atmosphere, tampering with the will of the voters before the elections, and pressures to withdraw, in addition to the reluctance of some to run for their convictions of the futility of the political process in light of the prevailing conditions.”

Assaf reveals the convergence of the results of the internal voting in the party’s consultative bodies on the decision of Al in the elections, noting that “the percentage of those who called for a boycott of the elections was very little less than the supporters of Al.”

According to Assaf, the pressure on the party did not stop at the elections stage, but rather withdrew to form the Parliamentary Reform Bloc in Parliament, which won 10 deputies, 6 of whom are affiliated with the party. They later withdrew from forming blocs within Parliament, and the coalition did not achieve the threshold for forming a bloc in accordance with the parliament's bylaws, which require 10% of parliament members.

Assaf believes that the failure to register a National Alliance bloc in Parliament does not affect the political and parliamentary weight of reform. "It is a well-balanced political bloc, and it is the only one that has so far shown consistency in its performance, parliamentary behavior and decisions, despite attempts to empty Parliament of its constitutional and oversight role," he said.

Hence, the party does not see that the decrease in the size of its representation in Parliament reduces its political role. "Despite this number, our presence achieves the goal of our participation as an Islamic movement in parliament," Assaf said, adding that the last parliament had previously voted to reject the gas agreement, but this vote was ignored.

The Parliamentary Reform Bloc in the 18th Parliament included 14 members, while today it includes 8 members, including the young MP Yanal Freihat (34 years) and the young MP Hassan Al-Riyati (33 years old). 8 members who are not registered in the internal system in the abstract, it is much larger than that in the Jordanian street, and most importantly, it is a political bloc par excellence.”

At the beginning of 2019, about 26 parties submitted a proposed participatory document for the required electoral law, in addition to a financial contribution system to support parties, and proposed amendments to the parties law that the government did not take into account at the time and did not open a dialogue about them.

For their part, the leftist and nationalist parties were at the forefront of the parties that announced their participation in the elections and suffered a heavy loss, as they collectively obtained only 1% of the vote, without winning any seat for the six parties that include both the Socialist and Progressive Baath, the Popular Unity, the Communist and the National Movement, in addition to To the democratic people, the “crowd,” whose candidates obtained 1,557 votes, or 0.11%, as 11 candidates were announced in 5 electoral districts, alone.

Regarding the evaluation of the experience, the first Secretary-General of the Hashd Party, Abla Abu Alba, a former deputy in the sixteenth parliament, said that many factors led to the results of the 2020 elections, foremost of which is the election law and “black money,” describing in her speech to “Al-Ghad” that the parliament is The current situation is the “worst” in the history of parliaments since 1989.

Abu Ulba, who is one of the most prominent party leaders in the country, explained, “The results confirm that the social and political groups represented in the current parliament are the influential social and economic forces. As for the organized political forces, their presence was limited to the Islamic Action Front, with a smaller number than in the previous parliament. In addition to symbols of some other political forces.

Not only did the nationalists and leftists lose as parties in parliament, but they also withdrew in a heavy loss for “independent national figures close to these currents,” according to her.

Abu Ulba considered that the parliamentary elections law in force for the second consecutive term, was designed in order to exclude or limit the organized political forces in favor of the regional and capitalist and social forces that dominate the general political scene. She added, "We were not very surprised by the results in general, compared to the previous council that was elected on the same law. Black money had a decisive role in the success of most of the candidates, and this phenomenon emerged on a large scale, without any of the official authorities interfering to stop it."

And she considered that the danger of such a phenomenon comes as “a tool of corruption and misinformation in political life, and it stands as a stumbling block in the way of democratic and serious political forces, which present their candidates on the basis of a political program.”

"This is at a time when these forces do not have the necessary financial capabilities to run their campaigns efficiently," Abu Alba added.

The alliances that took place between a number of parties within the framework of the coalition of nationalist and leftist parties, which participated with 48 male and female candidates in joint lists with others, were “weak and lacked any reinforcement with organized social bases,” according to Abu Alba.

She added, "Here, I say that it is no secret to anyone, that the nationalist and leftist parties have historically faced, and still are, severe pressures targeting their expansion and freedom of movement. These policies had a severe impact on the low level of their popularity and social influence."

As for conducting an internal review after the elections, Abu Alba confirmed that according to the traditions in force within the party system. She said, "In our party, the review process is complementary to the mechanisms of the elections and the nomination of candidates. The decision is made from the bottom up to the top of the regulatory bodies. The same applies to evaluation and review, from the grassroots bodies all the way to the Central Committee, which is the highest authority in the party."

The evaluation dealt with objective and subjective factors, alliances, and capabilities of the candidates, according to Abu Ulba, pointing to several flaws in the internal situation, represented in the weakness of some organizations in the governorates and in communicating with public institutions and social bases.

Abu Alba did not detail the impact of the “tribal incubators” on the candidates in the elections. She said, “We faced a problem related to clan affiliations, and the enormous social pressures that were exerted on a number of comrades in some circles to align themselves with the clan candidate and not the party candidate. This confused the campaigns in these circles.”

On the impact of similar political currents and their negative impact on the results of the coalition in general, she said, “We did not notice the existence of similar political currents competing with the coalition of nationalist and leftist parties. We expanded our coalitions in a number of electoral districts to be together (with the exception of one or two constituencies in which the coalition did not improve the management of the coalition).” , as she put it.

Regarding the bases that were adopted in selecting candidates and taking into account women and youth representation, Abu Alba indicated that the party has its own criteria for selecting candidates; The most important of these provide the ability to present and defend the political program and the ability to communicate with people.

However, she indicated that a small number of women and young people ran for elections, due to considerations related to the disapproval of many of them and their unwillingness to run in the elections. "I think that this phenomenon reflects the general negative atmosphere that surrounded the last election process in particular," she said. As for the presence of a large number of young people in the current parliament, I would like to point out that most of them are not politicized, and most of them won on regional and regional grounds.”

Abu Alaba went on to consider that the political alternatives available today in the absence of parties in parliament, cannot compensate for the role that her party can play in parliament, stressing at the same time, the need to continue the “struggle” to change the electoral law and the law of parties. Political parties and the release of public freedoms, along with political parties, forces and personalities within the framework of the coalition and perhaps outside it as well.

Abu Ulba added, “National efforts must continue at all levels and as permitted by the constitution and the law, not only at the legislative levels, but also in the process towards defending democratic issues and the rights of social groups that are subject to persecution, including workers and the poor in general, and women and youth issues, and everything that has It is related to the human rights enshrined in the Jordanian constitution.

On the other hand, Abu Alba confirmed her party’s follow-up and communication with Parliament, with regard to laws and amendments, and with the executive authority “if it decides to open a dialogue with us so that there is an opportunity to discuss urgent national issues,” as she put it, saying, “There are several attempts to send memos and demand documents.” To reform the legislation regulating political life, but there is a consistent political approach that depends on the exclusion of political parties and the marginalization of their role in public life.

Perhaps the experience of the National Congress Party, "Zamzam", was the most controversial in the 2020 elections; Where he obtained 1.23% of the votes of the voters, and nominated 17 parties in several joint lists, without any success, while his first participation in the elections of the eighteenth Parliament, in which he won 5 seats.

The party, which occupies the position of its Secretary-General, Dr. Rahil Gharaibeh, and was founded in 2016, was formed as a political framework within one of the splits in the Islamic movement, but since its establishment it has presented itself as a “comprehensive national framework that adopts a publicly peaceful approach that seeks to empower Jordanian society and build its modern civil state.” With an Islamic value reference.” He later joined the coalition of centrist political parties.

The party’s secretary, Abdul-Mahdi Al-Akaila, and one of its former candidates, told Al-Ghad that the most important objective reasons behind the failure in the elections are the restrictions imposed by the Corona pandemic and the arrangements related to the elections, and what he said is “questioning” the conduct of the elections and the delay in announcing its conduct and the announcement of polling day. .

Al-Akaileh considered that the second most important subjective reason behind the election results was the “reluctance of a large number” of party leaders from running for elections, because they were not convinced of the general conditions surrounding the political process at this stage. As for the interventions in the “lists”, Al-Akayla considered that the interventions were “large” as accompanying reasons. He said, "There were different interventions from different levels of influential circles that contributed to the engineering of the lists in advance, which produced and directed the election results."

But the financial influence was also one of the most important objective reasons that hindered the parties and organized forces from reaching Parliament, according to Al-Akayleh, who said, “This had a major role in distorting the will of the voters in the ballot box, which was reflected in the results, and it can be said that there was indeed a real failure. For all organized political forces, the most important of which are parties.

Rehabilitating the parties and their political role in the political process requires the availability of a real will on the part of decision-makers to find “political actors in political life.” He said, “I believe that political activity today is only the official political system and its tools, while the various societal forces are absent from political action. Jordanians must be truly represented in constitutional institutions, including parties as houses of political expertise.”

Akaileh said, "The difficulty of movement and communication with voters was also among the main obstacles in the elections, while the dialogues related to preparing for the elections did not take enough time for consultation with the candidates and electoral rules."

The party’s attempts to form joint lists with the coalition parties were unsuccessful, due to considerations related to the financial support of the campaigns, the impact of clan incubators on the candidates and siding with the clan candidate, and he said, “There was also the ability of parties with more financial influence than us as an organized political party that led to the transfer of candidates to other lists.” . Al-Akaileh indicated that Zamzam's candidates participated in 9 lists, 7 of which resulted in deputies, among whom there was no party candidate. "Including the Speaker of the House of Representatives, who was on a list of Zamzam candidates," he said.

“Zamzam” funded its electoral campaigns mainly from the donations of members to the party, especially leaders and members of the House of Councilors and the Political Bureau, with an estimated amount of 46,000 dinars, according to him.

Al-Akaileh believes that the external factors provided political money, especially in the second district of Amman, which he saw as one of the circles in which “political money spread” and said, “We had expected a percentage of

95% of what the results will be then, compared to the amount of spending,” especially with the deteriorating living conditions of large segments of the electorate due to the pandemic conditions and the interruption of many people from work.

Akaileh said, “In light of these data, it can be said that the groups of people who are most aware of their political decision in the elections, did not reach the polls, and the rest of their wills were distorted because of those with financial influence.”

Akaileh stressed that failure in general does not extend to the parties, but to the organized forces, and to all party life as a whole. He added, "Some of the parties that got seats, I think they were combinations, and some of their members joined them months before the elections, and some achieved clan success that was endorsed in favor of the party."

*This report was produced with financial support from the European Union. Its contents are the responsibility of “Tomorrow” and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.