VZCZCXRO8796
RR RUEHROV
DE RUEHAM #3402/01 2251250
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 131250Z AUG 07
FM AMEMBASSY AMMAN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 9897
INFO RUEHXK/ARAB ISRAELI COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 003402 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
FOR NEA/ELA, NEA/PI, NEA/PPD 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV KDEM KWMN SCUL KMPI JO
SUBJECT: JORDANIAN MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS:  WOMEN MAKE GAINS 
 
REF: A. AMMAN 3284 
     ¶B. AMMAN 3241 
     ¶C. AMMAN 3207 
     ¶D. AMMAN 2985 
 
Summary 
------- 
 
¶1. (SBU) Women made considerable gains in the July 31 
municipal elections as compared with 2003.  Almost eight 
times more women ran as candidates in 2007 than in 2003 (355 
versus 46), and women will hold at least 241 seats in 
municipal councils (as opposed to 97 in 2003).  The election 
also resulted in one Jordanian woman winning election for 
mayor.  Women activists noted advances in women's 
participation as candidates and as voters, but had hoped for 
more directly-elected council members.  That said, women 
activists described the quota for women's seats in municipal 
councils as necessary and described it as part of a 
transitional phase in a conservative society.  End Summary. 
 
Rise in Women's Participation and Success 
----------------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) The 2007 Municipalities Law mandated that 20 percent 
of municipal council seats (211 in total) be filled by women. 
These seats would be in addition to any seats won 
competitively by a woman (refs C and D).  Of the 355 women 
candidates that ran on July 31, 23 won seats outright.  This, 
plus the 195 women who earned quota seats throughout the 
country on election-day, 16 quota seats to be filled, and 
seven additional women who earned quota seats in Amman, means 
that a total of at least 241 women will sit on municipal 
councils.  The 16 quota seats that were not contested by 
women candidates will be filled by government appointment of 
local women leaders.  It is also possible that additional 
women will be appointed to serve as members in the Amman 
municipal council. 
 
¶3. (SBU) A comparison of the 2007 and 2003 elections shows 
that women's political participation rose sharply.  In 2007, 
355 women ran for municipal council seats, almost eight times 
more than in 2003, when just 46 women ran for council seats, 
with five winning.  Following the 2003 vote, 92 women were 
appointed as council members, bringing the total number of 
women council members at that time to 97.  Thus the 241 women 
council members in 2007 will represent more women in councils 
than the 20 percent quota required by law and a significant 
increase from 2003. 
 
Woman Wins Mayoralty 
-------------------- 
 
¶4. (SBU) Of six women running for mayoralties in the country, 
one won.  Rana Hajayeh became the only woman elected mayor, 
winning the contest in Al Hassa, in the Tafileh governorate. 
Hajayeh was cultivated by IRI's office in Amman when that 
program was funded by MEPI.  She also took part in ECA's 
International Visitor Leadership Program on "State and Local 
Government" in 2006 as well as in USAID-funded NDI and IRI 
candidate and campaign training activities in Jordan over the 
past year. 
 
USG Program Participants Earn Seats 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶5.  Two women who gained municipal council seats have taken 
part in Embassy programming.  Sana Bakri, who ran as an 
independent candidate and won a seat in the Krimeh municipal 
council without using the quota system, was the recipient of 
a MEPI small grant promoting advocacy among people with 
special needs.  She participated in a MEPI-funded program in 
Alexandria, Egypt in April, 2007 on "Leadership for Civil 
Society Leaders."  She then became a student, with USAID 
funding, at the Embassy Amman Public Affairs' American 
Language Center.  Reem Al-Nasser won a municipal council seat 
in the district of Tareq under the quota system.  She took 
part in the May, 2006 International Visitor Leadership 
Program, "Promoting Interfaith Dialogue."  Al-Nasser 
attributed her candidacy to the eye-opening experience she 
had in the United States during the program. 
 
Quota system:  Depressing Women's Support for Women? 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
 
¶6. (SBU) While the quota system will produce a significant 
increase in female council members, as intended, there has 
been some post-election speculation that it reduced the 
incidence of women voting for women.  By this reasoning, 
supporters for leading female candidates - confident of a 
 
AMMAN 00003402  002 OF 002 
 
 
quota seat - cast their ballots for males in a competitive 
race.  In a possible case of such strategic voting, one which 
also displays the significance of tribal politics, Fardous 
Mohammad Al Khaldi won a (quota) council seat in the Sabha 
and Dafianeh municipal council near Mafraq with zero votes. 
Khaldi nominated herself for council member on the last day 
of registration, knowing that she would win by quota.  She 
subsequently told the Petra news agency, "I did not vote for 
myself because of my commitment to my tribe and the residents 
of my town to vote for another candidate, who unfortunately 
did not win."  She said that she did not vote for herself 
(nor did her husband or five children) because she would not 
break her commitment to the tribe and that "the priority is 
for electing a man."  In her small town of Kom Al Raf, 95 per 
cent of the 351 registered voters voted, just not for Khaldi. 
 
¶7. (SBU) Khaldi's case raised questions in the press, with 
some commentators questioning her legitimacy.  Regardless, 
after the election results were announced, the Ministry of 
Municipal Affairs affirmed the legal basis of Khaldi's 
newly-won quota seat, pointing to the Municipality Law 
(Article 9, B) that clearly allows women "candidates" to take 
seats under the quota. 
 
Reflections on the Women's Vote 
------------------------------- 
 
¶8. (SBU) Several women activists told emboffs that they were 
disappointed that women did not do better in winning 
municipal council seats outright rather than gaining these 
seats from the quota, attributing the outcome to the 
conservativism of Jordanian society.  Some also expressed 
disappointment over the way in which tribal and family 
politics trumped issue-oriented politics.  Regardless, most 
women activists strongly defended the quota system as a 
"transitional phase" for women's political leadership in the 
country.  Anas Al Sakit, head of the Jordanian Women's 
Association, said in an interview with the newspaper 
Al-Dustour that "society holds the view that women are less 
important than men" and that women need the quota system as a 
"transitional phase" to further political empowerment. 
Former Minister of Culture and women's rights activist Asma 
Khadr described the quota as the "first phase" of giving 
women public leadership opportunities. Jordanian Senator 
Layla Sharaf said that the quota was still necessary given 
that, in her view, Jordanian society is still not ready to 
place women in decision-making positions without the quota. 
That said, she pointed to the extensive level of women's 
participation at the ballot boxes as a positive sign (57 per 
cent of registered women voters, or about 447,000 women, cast 
ballots) even though the number of women candidates was low 
because of apprehension among women to run. 
 
¶9. (SBU) Rima Abu-Dalbuh, member of a legal team with the 
Jordanian National Commission for Women, asserted that 
women's organizations played an important role in mobilizing 
and motivating women candidates and voters.  She said to 
Al-Dustour that this election provided women with the 
experience for future elections.  Abu-Dalbuh also stressed 
that Jordanian women were now more politically aware than 
before and familiar with all "old and new legal texts, and of 
all amendments to the law that are equitable to women." 
 
¶10. (SBU) On the question of whether women voted for women, 
it was clear from newspaper commentary and the feedback from 
contacts that women candidates did not decidedly benefit from 
the votes of women.  Several women with whom we spoke said 
that they voted based on how their husbands or families asked 
them to vote.  Other women insisted that they did not vote 
for women simply because they were women, but rather voted 
for the person they deemed to be the most competent. 
 
 
 
Visit Amman's Classified Web Site at 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/amman/ 
 
Hale