Examining Public Attitudes towards Parliament and Elections

“Your voice has a personal effect on election results;” this phrase attained the support of the majority of the Jordanian public who took part in an opinion poll ahead of Jordan’s November 20 parliamentary elections.  79% of the poll’s respondents agreed with this statement, although only 52.1% said that they would vote.

The Poll’s results also showed that, for a plurality of likely voters (34.2%), a candidate’s political capability and background were the most important factors in considering for whom to cast a vote.  However, there were more likely voters (22%) who said that tribal affiliation was the most important consideration than there were voters who said that the candidates’ political party membership mattered most (16%).  Other findings demonstrated the public’s positive views of elections in general; its desire to see democracy strengthened in Jordan; and its opinion that Parliament’s political priorities needed to focus more on citizens’ needs. 

The survey also revealed general dissatisfaction with the previous Parliament’s accomplishments. The majority believed that the Parliament had little effect on the country’s public policies: only 10% believed that it managed to perform its constitutional duties (although only 27% understood its constitutional roles); and only 6.5% considered Parliament to have been a successful liaison with the public.  On another front, the survey showed that most respondents neither knew nor attempted to know much about the Parliament:  About two thirds of respondents did not keep track of Parliamentary news, and 52% did not know the names of the MPs representing them. 

In this scientific effort to assess public knowledge and attitudes towards parliamentary performance and elections, the University of Jordan’s Center for Strategic Studies (CSS) conducted two pre-elections polls between October 17 and November 2, 2007.  With support from the Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI)’s local grants program, CSS examined the opinions of 1722 respondents on the performance of the previously elected Lower House, in terms of political trends, basic duties, and dealing with local and regional issues.  CSS’s survey also examined public opinion towards participation in the national parliamentary elections November 20. 

CSS trained and supervised over 100 interviewers, including students from the University of Jordan, to collect the views of citizens from the 12 governorates; thus involving several dozen interested Jordanian youth and adults in a critical evaluation of a democratic process occurring in their country. 

This CSS project identified and cast important attention on key positive and negative public perceptions of representative governance and elections at a critical juncture in Jordan’s democratic development.  As Jordan turned its attention toward the next Parliament, this project confirmed that the public broadly supports the concept of democracy and representative governance, but revealed that most Jordanians have so far not paid regular attention between elections to a Parliament they deem neither essential to the formulation of policy nor in tune with their needs.  The Poll’s results were published in Arabic on the CSS website and reported by local media, including in English by the Jordan Times.