AMMAN — A public opinion poll conducted by the
Center for Strategic Studies shows that 1 percent of Jordanians joined a
political party, with the majority (88 percent) believing that political
parties have failed in their political work, and only 12 percent believing that
they have been successful.
اضافة اعلان
The most important reasons for not joining parties,
the poll found out, were: lack of interest in parties (46 percent),
dissatisfaction with existing parties (26 percent), and conviction that parties
fail to represent citizens (15 percent).
The majority of Jordanians (74 percent) say they
have no affinity with any of the Jordanian political currents; 7 percent feel
they are intellectually closer to the Islamists, 3 percent to the Arab
nationalist parties, and 5 percent to national political parties.
MP Ghazi Al-Dhiabat told
Jordan News that the
reluctance to participate in elections is both a legacy and a firm belief; “we
will need time and effort to convince people to start participating in the
political process”.
Dhiabat stressed that there was a time “parties were
being pursued by the authorities, and this was the reason people did not join
parties. Also, our 50 parties are baseless and do not provide anything”.
Former MP
Mamdouh Al-Abbadi told
Jordan News that the study shows figures that he believes
to be accurate for several reasons; “for 60 to 70 years governments have been
fighting parties, therefore, from one generation to another, the opinion has
been against parties”.
Abbadi stressed that the upcoming parties cannot be
expected to “convince and change the general impression”.
“Moreover, those who call for participation have
become part of the political modernization system and were involved in parties
and then left, so how would they convince people to participate,” he asked.
Former lawmaker
Jamil Al-Nimri told
Jordan News that the poll figures are no reason for concern. In developed countries, the
percentage does not exceed 2 percent, he said, stressing that “party membership
is limited to those who engage in partisan activity”.
Nimri added that parties “will be real in the coming
days, due to competition”. He urged “patience to determine how the elections
law will affect this issue”, and expressed his belief that “fear of engaging in
parties is fading”.
Political science specialist MP
Muhammad Al-Khalayleh told
Jordan News that the percentages in the poll reflect a
flaw in the political reform system, adding that the government, with all its
institutions, must strive to induce people to participate in political parties.
He said that the upcoming elections can be expected
to face challenges, and that there are only two years to convince people to
participate in partisan political life, which is not enough.
Khalayleh added that the elections and parties laws and
constitutional amendment are ready, “we only need a non-traditional government
to implement them”.
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