Repost: Exciting Outcome of the Jordan Election

Reposting as blogger is having some issue with the previous post...

So, in case anyone missed it, the Jordan Times has reported the election results from Tuesday's elections here. You may notice that the brown-haired party candidate (tongue firmly in cheek) Reem Badran won. I am proud to say that I had a hand in electing her. There was something actually quite special about her performance in this election. Many readers may be unaware that Jordan's electoral system has a built in "quota" for certain minorities. These include specified seats for Christians, Circassians, and women. So, the fact that a woman was elected in the third district isn't particularly newsworthy. But let me tell you what is... Reem Badran did not win as a woman. She beat her male opponents in direct competition hands-down.

1. Mamdouh Saleh Abbadi 2,131 Muslim
2. Reem Mudar Badran 3,792 Muslim
3. Abdul Rahim Fathi Biqai 2,309 Muslim
4. Ahmad Mohammad Safadi 3,099 Muslim
5. Ghazi Farid Misharbash 3,198 Christian

The next closest opponent competing for an open seat only posted 3,099 votes. Reem beat him by nearly 700 votes. And, ladies and gentlemen that's something. The result of this, much to my happiness, is that Reem takes one of the 5 seats for the third district. She does NOT take one of the women's seats.

This article details Reem's win and notes that she is the FIRST woman to win a seat outside of the quota system. Amman should be proud. ** Side note, I have been assured that she may be the first woman in the THIRD district, nut is not the first in the country. There is a woman who has managed this several times outside of Amman. Maybe some fact checking would be appropriate for JT? **

However, the second thing that I am not seeing anyone talking about is the fact that the candidate with the second most votes in the District is a Christian candidate. Unfortunately (from my perspective only of course), the Christians do not run in a quota system like the women do. Rather, they run for a specific Christian seat. Unlike in Reem's case, Ghazi Musharbash does not take one of the 4 non-Christian seats leaving the Christian seat open to the next highest Christian. However, it would be interesting to see if a Christian can, in fact, run in open competition. It's certainly an idea for the next election giving the scores in this one. I'm both surprised and impressed at the results for District 3.

I remain glad that I went out and voted (once again a painless and smooth process). We did not experience any incidents and had only very nice people politely handing out election materials. For those who didn't vote this time, get out and vote.

In my house the rule is: If you don't vote, you don't get complaining rights. I suspect it's the only reason El 3atal voted, honestly. He knows if he didn't go and vote and then wanted to whine about anything Parliament related, I'd have made him stop ;). Because after all, if you give up your right to make the choice, you don't care enough to complain... 'nuff said.

Happy results-oriented voting!