CHAPTER FOUR

Candidature for Membership of the House of Deputies
Article 17 After the King has issued his Decree to hold the elections for the House of Deputies, in accordance with Paragraph (1) of Article (34) of the institution, the Council of Ministers shall decide to designate a date for the election, which shall be announced by the Prime Minister and published in the Official Gazette.
Article 18

A candidate for membership in the House of Deputies must meet the following conditions:

  1. That he has been a Jordanian national for at least ten years and that he does not claim foreign nationality or protection.

  2. That he is an Elector registered in one of the final Electoral Lists.

  3. That he has completed thirty solar years of his age on the day the candidature period ends.

  4. That he has not been sentenced to a prison term exceeding one year for a non-political crime from which he has not been pardoned, and that he has not been convicted of a moral felony or misdemeanor.

  5. That he does not belong to an unlawful organization, defined as any party or organization whose principles, objectives and aims contradict the provisions of the Constitution.

  6. That he does not have a material interest in any of the Government departments by virtue of a contract, other than contracts of land and property tenancy. This does not apply to anyone who is a shareholder in a company owned by more than ten persons.

  7. That he is not a relative of the King to a degree specified by special legislation.
Article 19 Anyone may nominate himself for membership in the House of Deputies in only one Constituency.
Article 20 Employees of Government Ministries and Departments and public official organizations who draw their salaries from the Government’s Treasury or public funds subject thereto or supervised thereby, as well as employees of international organizations and chairmen of municipal and rural councils, may not nominate themselves for membership in the House of Deputies, unless they have submitted their resignations from their positions at least one month prior to the date designated for the election. The concerned official department may accept or deny the resignation, but it shall be considered accepted by force of law if no decision has been taken thereon within the days of submission thereof.
Article 21 Candidacy for membership in the House of Deputies shall start twenty-five days before the day designated for the election and shall continue for three days; no candidacy shall be accepted after the expiry of this period.
Article 22
  1. Anyone wishing to nominate himself for membership in the House of Deputies shall pay the Treasury Director in the Constituency in which he wishes to nominate himself the amount of (500) five hundred Dinars, which shall be entered as income for the Treasury and shall not be returnable under any circumstance.
  2. The candidate shall present his candidacy application in duplicate to the Administrative Governor in the Constituency in which he wishes to nominate himself, including his name, place of birth, region, place of domicile, and the seat for which he nominates himself; he shall attach the corroboratory documents and all the other declarations that are required in accordance with the provisions of this Law. The Administrative Governor shall give the applicant advice of receipt of the application which may be submitted on the form determined by the Minister of the Interior.
Article 23 The Administrative Governor shall verify whether the candidate’s application, documents and declarations conform with the conditions for candidacy provided in this Law; accordingly, he shall decide to approve or deny the application within a period not exceeding three days of the date of submission thereof.
Article 24 If the Administrative Governor decides to reject the candidacy application because it does not conform with the provisions of the Law, the applicant may submit an objection thereto before the Court of First Instance whose jurisdiction covers the Constituency, and within two days of the date of receipt of notification of the Administrative Governor’s decision. The Court shall finally rule upon the objection within three days of its submittal. The Administrative Governor must specify the reasons for rejection in his decision.
Article 25 The Administrative Governor shall keep a copy of the candidacy applications which he has accepted, or those accepted by a ruling of the Court of First Instance, and shall enter the same in a special register in the chronological order of the date of submission. After the candidacy applications have acquired final and absolute status and have been published in at least two local newspapers, the Administrative Governor shall compile a list of the names of the candidates for display in prominent public places in the relevant Constituency.
Article 26 Every Elector may appeal the acceptance of the candidacy of any candidate in his constituency before the Supreme Court of Justice within three days of the date of display of the lists of candidates provided for in Article (25) of this Law; the Court shall rule upon the appeal within five days from the date of submitting the appeal to the Court.
Article 27 Immediately after being notified thereof, the Administrative Governor shall announce any amendments to the Lists of Candidates made by virtue of rulings of the Supreme Court of Justice in the same manner that he announced the List of Candidates pursuant to the provisions of Article (25) of this Law: This list shall be the Final List of Candidates for the parliamentary elections.
Article 28 If the number of candidates in the Final List in any Constituency is equal to the number of parliamentary seats designated for that Constituency, these candidates shall be announced winners in the uncontested election.
Article 29 All petitions, objections and appeals submitted in accordance with this Law, as well as the rulings made thereon by courts, panels, committees and the Administrative Governor, are exempt from fees and stamps.
Article 30 Any candidate may withdraw his candidacy application before the end of official hours on the day immediately preceding the Election Day.
 


CHAPTER FIVE

Constituencies and Their Allotted Seats
Article 31 As of the date it is decided to hold the first general election to the House of Deputies conducted after the effective date of this Law, in accordance with the procedures set out therein, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan shall be divided into a number of Constituencies in accordance with the schedule appended to this Law and each Constituency shall be allocated the parliamentary seats specified for it therein.