General elections were held in

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

on 20 November 2007. Following the election, Prime Minister Marouf al-Bakhit and his cabinet resigned, as it normally followed in the Jordanian political system.

King Abdullah II Abdullah II (Abdullah bin Hussein; born 30 January 1962) is King of Jordan, having ascended the throne on 7 February 1999. He is a member of the Hashemites, who have been the reigning royal family of Jordan since 1921, and is traditionally reg ...

appointed

Nader al-Dahabi Nader Dahabi (; born 7 October 1946) is a Jordanian politician who was the 37th Prime Minister of Jordan from 25 November 2007 to 14 December 2009. He took office following the resignation of Marouf al-Bakhit, and days after the parliamentary ...

as the new prime minister on 22 November to lead a new technocratic government.

Electoral system

The

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

had 110 seats elected in 45 regional electoral districts, three seats elected in closed tribal districts and one national woman quota district. A minimum of six seats were guaranteed for women, nine for

Christians A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the world. The words '' Christ'' and ''C ...

, and three for the Circassian and Chechen minorities.

Campaign

885 candidates contested the elections,Jordan elects new parliament
Al Jazeera, 20 November 2007 including 199 women, the highest participation of female candidacy the country had seen. Traditionally elections have been fought by individuals standing as independents or under tribal support and not as partisans. Some of the candidates in this election have political affiliations, and some belong to political parties. Most of the Islamic candidates contested under the Islamic Action Front (IAF) banner, with the party fielding 22 candidates. Only 6 of those 22 representing the IAF candidates won the elections,Candidate list
IAF website which is viewed as a major setback to the influence of the IAF inside Jordan.

Conduct

The IAF, who won 17 parliamentary seats in the previous elections in 2003, has demanded independent monitors. Marouf al-Bakhit, the prime minister, turned down the request which he said would mean "that Jordan's transparency and electoral process is questionable". As reports of "vote buying" spread, a local newspaper published a picture showing a voter allegedly receiving a sum of money from the aide of a candidate.

Results

Overall turnout was 54%, though it varied between 80% in rural areas and 28% in some constituencies in the capital.Jordan's poll turnout 54 per cent, vote-counting starts
Deutsche Presse-Agentur, 20 November 2007

References

External links

Ministry of the Interior {{Jordanian elections

General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...

General elections in Jordan Election and referendum articles with incomplete results