AMMAN
Voting for the parliamentary elections has begun in Jordan on Wednesday with the participation of the independent candidates only.
The voting started at 7 a.m. under the restrictions of the much discussed electoral law.
The Islamic Action Front Party and The Muslim Brotherhood are among the opposition parties boycotting the polls in protest against the electoral law. They have previously stated that they would not take part in the elections as candidates or voters.
The new electoral law allows voters to cast two ballots; one for a candidate in their constituency and one for party lists to be elected via proportional representation at the national level. The current system doesn't allow any group to dominate in the parliament.
425 candidates will compete in the election and 191 of them are women. The Jordan Parliament reserved 15 seats for women in the parliament.
The number of seats reserved for political party and coalition candidates in parliament is 27 out of the 150 seats in the parliament.
2.3 million are registered to vote in Jordan where the population is 6.8 million. Around 70 percent of eligible voters were reported to have registered to vote.
