The Independent Election Commission (IEC) on Thursday announced the preliminary results of five districts, two of which had three women winning outside the quota. Meanwhile, the IEC announced that no re-vote would be held in the Central Badia District, where sabotage of ballots was reported. At a press conference, Mustafa Barari, head of the commission’s special committee entrusted with auditing the elections’ results, announced the initial outcomes of Karak, Balqa and Irbid’s 1st and 4th districts as well as the Central Badia. In Karak, the number of voters stood at 103,451 with 10 seats allocated for the southern constituency, including those designated for women and Christians. Out of eleven competing lists, six have made it to the 18th House.
… As for the Central Badia, Mahasen Shraa from the Wafaa list won by 3,382 votes, Habis Fayez from the Baraka list by 3,306 votes and Rasmiye Kaabneh under the women’s quota by 2,961 seats.
The district witnessed acts of sabotage when anonymous people stormed polling stations and snatched and destroyed a number of ballots before returning the stolen ones later Tuesday. Some were intact, it was found following an audit, while others were in such a bad shape that they were discarded, IEC President Khaled Kalaldeh said at another press conference later in the day.
Kalaldeh explianed that 17 ballot boxes in the Central Badia were believed to be tampered with or stolen, prompting the commission to audit them. “After thorough examination, 10 ballot boxes were found to be intact. Another was found to be tampered with but we managed to rectify its situation based on matching electronic and hard copies of related documents,” he said, adding that four boxes were destroyed and one was still missing.
Full Article: Preliminary election results announced, legislature makeup takes shape | Jordan Times.
