Jordan News

The Special Bureau for the Interpretation of Laws issued a fatwa regarding the proportion of women seats in the municipal council, estimated at 25%.

The Diwan confirmed that “the proportion of women’s seats in the municipal council, estimated at 25%, is calculated from the total members of each council, which was determined by a decision of the Minister of Local Administration, without the need to issue another clarification decision in this regard.”

The Diwan’s fatwa, issued in the Official Gazette on Wednesday, comes after a request from Prime Minister Bishr Al-Khasawneh on the third of this month, to explain “the text of Paragraph (d) of Article (13) of the Local Administration Law, which stipulates that women in the municipal council shall allocate a percentage of 25% of the number of council members to occupy it are those who obtained the highest votes in proportion to the number of voters, and within their electoral district, and those who were not fortunate to win the election, and for this purpose, the fraction is rounded to the nearest whole number.

Al-Khasawneh’s request stated, “A statement as to whether the phrase (for women in the municipal council membership shall be 25% of the number of council members) is included in the number of elected council seats specified in the law / or is it added to the number of these seats, so that the women’s quota is not calculated within the limit The highest number of seats allocated to the Council.

After informing the Bureau of the provisions of the Local Administration Law, “The legislator required in paragraph (d) the subject of the interpretation request, allocating membership to women in the municipal council at a rate of 25% of the number of members assigned to appoint the Minister of Local Administration, i.e. 25% of the number named by the Minister, The fraction is rounded to the nearest whole number, for the purpose of determining the unnamed number in the aforementioned ratio, and not to consider this percentage among the number named by the minister, meaning that this percentage is added to the number of members specified by the minister, and without the need for another decision from him.

And the Court stated in its fatwa, that “it is established in the rules of interpretation, that he read the text required to be interpreted with the rest of the texts of the legislation that it contains, and which are related to it as being read together, because they complement and clarify each other to reach the intended purpose.”

He added that “what benefits from the context of paragraphs (b) and (c) of Article (13) of the Local Administration Law, and within the limits of the request for interpretation, that the legislator entrusted the task of determining the number of members of the municipal council in each municipality (taking into account the exception contained in the text) to the Minister of Administration local government by a decision issued by him and published in the Official Gazette.

Paragraph (b) of Article 13 states: “With the exception of the Greater Amman Municipality, the Aqaba Economic Zone Authority, and the Petra Development and Tourism Tourism Region Authority, the municipality shall be administered by a municipal council consisting of a president and members whose number shall be determined by a decision of the Minister, and shall be published in the Official Gazette. Changing their number in the same way, provided that this does not take place during the session of the Municipal Council.

Paragraph (c) of the same article states that “the permissibility of dividing the municipality area into electoral districts, and to be determined, and the number of members in each district, is determined by a decision of the minister to be published in the Official Gazette.”

And in the Bureau’s response to the request to explain Paragraph (c) of Article (4) of the Law of the Secretariat to “describe what is meant by the term non-winners in the elections, and those who obtain the highest percentage of votes for the number of voters in the constituency in which they run, given that the counting of votes to fill the membership of the councils is by calculating The number of voters who voted, not the total number of voters.

That paragraph states that “in addition to the seats of directly elected members, a percentage of no less than 25% of the number of elected members of the council shall be allocated to women, which shall be filled from the female candidates who did not win the elections, and who obtained the highest percentage of votes for the number of voters of the constituency in which they were nominated, and for this purpose. Round the fraction to the nearest whole number.

It also stipulates that “in the event that these percentages are equal, the president of the election shall draw lots between them, and if the required number of female candidates is not available, he shall be appointed by a decision of the Council of Ministers, and upon the recommendation of the president within the limits of this percentage, from among the registered female voters in the lists of voters in the secretariat area.” It, according to the interpretation of the Diwan, “the meaning of the text indicates clearly and explicitly, and according to the meaning of the word voter in the Arabic language, who chooses a representative for him in a parliament, a union council, or the like, and therefore its meaning is the one who cast his vote, i.e. a ballot, even if the legislator intended to make a ratio. For the number of voters to use the word voters, and/or registered voters in accordance with the provisions of the law.”

This interpretation is consistent with “the mechanism for selecting women for the seats allocated to them in other municipalities, in accordance with Paragraph instead of Article (13) of the Local Administration Law.”