Amman, May 19: Jordan endorsed on Tuesday a new election law, keeping a one-person-one-vote system and increasing the number of lower house seats from 110 to 120, including 12 reserved for women.
“The council of ministers today approved a temporary election law for the year 2010 in line with the king’s directions to hold the polls during the last quarter of this year,” information minister and government spokesman Nabil Sharif said.
“The law is designed to help Jordanians vote and choose their representatives in a transparent and fair manner.”
Officials said the new law maintained the 1993 one-person-one-vote electoral system, which has been under constant attack by opposition parties, trade unions, politicians and the media.
Under this system, although there can be more than one seat chosen from a given constituency, voters are allowed to choose only one candidate. Before 1993, voters were able to vote for all seats in their constituency.
Critics have said the system produced lawmakers with tribal affiliations, instead of MPs who truly represent the people.
The new law raises the number of seats reserved for women from six to 12, one for each of the country’s governorates, in line with a quota mandated by King Abdullah II.
Of the four other seats created, two have been allocated to the capital Amman and one each to the northern cities of Zarqa and Irbid.
Fuller details will be announced at news conference on Wednesday, the state-run Petra news agency reported.
The king dissolved parliament in 2009, two years early. That followed months of press criticism of the ineffectiveness and, in some cases, alleged corruption of MPs.
It was the second time the king has dissolved parliament early since he acceded to the throne in 1999.
—Agencies