IAF withdraws from the municipal elections
As it has suggested, the IAF has announced that it is withdrawing from the elections. I have never heard of anybody withdrawing from elections during the voting process. Maybe they were hoping things would go their way, despite all the previous indications to the contrary. The government says that the withdrawal is illegal, and would continue the voting and counting process as scheduled.
The IAF statement cited voting by military personnel as the reason for withdrawing. The statement says that the personnel voted by saying the candidate’s name openly. This mechanism is available for people who are illiterate, but is sometimes abused by people who sell their votes. Later, the IAF head, Zaki Bani Irshaid changed this claim, saying that the military personnel showed up with pre-filled ballot cards. They had months to get their story straight, and they still blew it.
Other claims by Bani Irshaid include allowing multiple votes for specific candidates, shooting and fights at some voting places, and throwing out of IAF representatives out of “some” voting stations.
Candidates are allowed representatives at each box, where they can keep track of who has voted, and object to multiple voting. In most districts, there are more than two candidates. So such abuses would be expected to have been objected to not only by IAF candidates, but by the candidates who are not getting this supposed government patronage. Voters for Irbid Mayoral candidate Abdelnasser Bani Hani (not IAF) are openly concerned that the government is throwing its weight behind Abdelraouf Tell. It will be interesting if Bani Hani and Nabil Kofahi (the IAF candidate) converge on a similar story.
More later.
Labels: Democracy
posted by Khalaf @ 3:57 PM
8 comments
Since October 16, 2005
8 Comments:
This is not good!!
He was threatning from yesterday! And the other day they had a carnival in zarqa, sewage invaded them, and guess who they accused of directing the sewage toward them?
Anyway, as they say thing must escalate to get solved, this status quo of attacks and retaliations by both the government and "islamists" must end! We all know why they are afraid of the militarty votes.
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I don't like the IAf and I don't wish for any of its members to win the elections, but I know that our government is not an angel and they frequently harrass them in any elections process and that is unfair.
Kilany: I wouldn't worry too much.
Mohanned: Just because they don't like the military to vote doesn't give the IAF the right to deny them their right. They will have to gain power first.
Hareega: The IAF exaggerates "government persecution" for their advantage. Why else would they have any credibility?
The government also doesn't have much credibility when it frequently denies any obstacles it builds to any candidate from any opposition when they run for any kind of election in Jordan.
Even if you don't think the IAF has any credibilty and I don't trsut them either, that might be a good reason not to vote for them but not to prevent them from running
like the IAF or not, when the most credible opposition group pulls out of the elections, it renders it worthless. i never thought much of any Arab election. they are all rigged in more ways than one and they only need the voters to give the impression that there is democracy. fact is we are no better than Syria or Belarus. with 50% of the Jordanian legislature appointed, and 30% more from loyalist areas, that leaves 20% of the seats for 80% of Jordanians to compete for. What a joke. but at least our joke is more elaborate than Syria's joke. this is where our regime shows originality.
mursi
Boo Hoo!
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