REPORT: Jordanians to elect 17th parliament on Wednesday

The Jordanian capital, Amman, has been decked out in posters and banners for those who will be running for parliamentary elections due to be held on Wednesday January 23, 2013.

About 2.3 (m) million of 3.3 (m) million eligible voters were registered to vote to elect 150 legislators.

1,425 candidates, including 191 women and about 139 former lawmakers, are running, many of them as independents, counting on their tribal affiliations and family connections.

Nine seats are reserved for Christians, who make up about 4 percent of the population.The main dispute between the opposition and the government is over the new election law, which allows each voter two separate ballots - one for representatives from local districts in this traditionally tribal society, the other for one of 27 candidates on a national list.

The party which wins a majority of seats in the lower house of Parliament will consult with other parliamentary blocs and independents and will, for the first time, pick a prime minister - by in house parliamentary vote rather than by an appointment by the king - to form a cabinet whose members could be serving lawmakers or politicians from outside parliament.

In this context, Sheikh Hamzeh Mansour, the Islamic Action Front Secretary General, said his group will boycott the upcoming parliamentary elections in protest over recent changes in the kingdom's election legislation and due to the lack of "national consensus".


AP