AKEED, Amman

Election silence began in Jordan, legally, on the morning of Monday, 19 September. However, the actual implementation of the stage of election silence had not entered into force until noon of the same day. Violations were more visible on electronic news sites, TV advertising slides, and daily newspapers.

The Jordanian Media Credibility Monitor (AKEED) has observed that many media outlets did not abide by the legal commitment and professional traditions during the stage of election silence, which require stopping all forms of election advertising on that day in order to create the right environment for voters before the polling to decide on voting without any effect on their choices.

The Monitor revealed that some media outlets continued to clearly publish and broadcast election advertisements. This includes the daily newspapers that have the highest circulation and the electronic sites that have the highest viewing. Al Sabeel newspaper abided by the election silence. This is in addition to some electronic sites, including Gerasa, Al Wakeel, and Al Bosala. At the same time, some news sites published reports that confused news with advertisements during the stage of election silence. The following are some examples:

In Pictures and Video - Crowd of Citizens at Nu"aimat Headquarters in Kerak

In Pictures…A Large Number of Supporters of Al Nur List Attend Speech Rally of Marwan Sultan

Biqaai Declares Support for Safadi

Amjad Al Maslamani Generously Offers To Repair Ceiling of House of Um Ra"d

Businessman Riad Mihyar Holds Meeting in Support of Injaz List - Pictures and Video

5,000 Supporters at Speech Rally of Al Nur List and Marwan Sultan

Demand for Participation of Parties in Parliamentary Elections To Stop Farce of Warring List …United Front List as an Example

Safadi Running in Elections at Third Constituency (Mustaqbal List)

Also, while monitoring TV channels, AKEED has observed that there was commitment, in general, by some Jordanian satellite channels, including Jordan TV, Roya, Nourmina, and Josat, until the time of preparing this report. Meanwhile, there were violations on news tickers of other channels and clear election advertising on the channels of the TV stations of advertising slides.

An observer cannot but see that there is something resembling an implicit agreement between the people managing many sites and media establishments not to adhere to the stage of election silence. 

In a telephone call with AKEED, Jihad Momani, spokesman for the Independent Election Commission (IEC), said that the stage of election silence begins on the morning of 19 September, at 12:01; that is, 24 hours before the polling.

Momani adds that "election silence means that all candidates, males and females, and entities concerned with election advertising, must stop election advertising, whether by advertisement or publishing in all audiovisual and printed outlets. They must also cease any form of advertising at polling centers, whether directly or indirectly."

Momani adds that "anyone who conducts any form of advertising during the stage of election silence will be held legally accountable. Dealing with the media will be based on their violation of the rules of election advertising. The final say in such cases is for the judiciary."

On the purpose of the stage of election silence, Momani explains that the main aim has to do with voters and not influencing their decisions at the last moment, contrary to their convictions, and not appealing to them emotionally. The second aim has to do with the IEC, which needs at this time to devote its full attention to the procedures, which are the most important matter in the electoral process, instead of monitoring election advertising.

Momani indicates that there is permanent coordination by the IEC with all other concerned parties, including the Audiovisual Commission. The IEC communicates with the media through the Audiovisual Commission, which has the legal jurisdiction in this connection. He noted that they sent a letter concerning the stage of election silence to the Audiovisual Commission to circulate it to media establishments all over the Kingdom.

Dr. Amjad Al Qadi, head of the Audiovisual Commission, told AKEED that "the Audiovisual Commission had informed the media about the stage of election silence, which started with the first minutes of Monday morning. This is in addition to a new circular that was issued on Monday morning."

Al Qadi adds: "News sites began today, Monday, to withdraw advertisements that contained election propaganda. As for newspapers, they were printed last night. It is expected that there will be a misunderstanding by the newspapers regarding the timing of the "stage of election silence" and its exact time (as happens usually).

According to Al Qadi, publishing advertisements during the stage of election silence is a violation and will be dealt with by the Audiovisual Commission. The Legal Department in the Audiovisual Commission will take measures, in collaboration with the IEC, in this respect.

Journalist Fahd Al Khitan tells AKEED: "It is hard for media outlets to apply election silence, having committed violations throughout the period of election campaigns since the announcement of the lists and published a lot of items that contained violations, key of which is confusing news items with advertisements, let alone stopping publishing advertisements on the last day, especially since it is the right opportunity to make the most profit."

Al Khitan adds: "The daily newspapers, which print hardcopies, did not abide by this because in the elections, they have had the least share of advertisements, compared with news sites, which took good advantage of this stage by giving discounts and extra services, prompting candidates to place advertisements with them. It is candidates who should stop publishing advertisements in these outlets."

Election silence, according to Al Khitan, is very important to give voters a chance to decide without any influence by candidates and their platforms and pictures.

For his part, Dr. Sakhr Al Khasawneh stresses that media outlets must respect the stage of election silence. He says: "Article 20 of the Election Law of 2016 stipulates that election advertising shall end 24 hours before polling day. As the polling will start at 7 a.m. on 20 September, election advertising must stop at 7 a.m. on 19 September, according to the legal stipulation."

Al Khasawneh says that "any violation of the provisions of election advertising is punishable by not less than one month in prison and not more than three months or a fine of not less than 100 Jordanian dinars and not more than 300 Jordanian dinars or both penalties, according to Article 61 of the same law. All media outlets must, legally speaking, stop publishing advertisements and promoting candidates and must remove all advertisements from the pages of electronic sites.

The purpose of the election silence, according to Al Khasawneh, is to ensure that there will be no influence on the will of voters and that voters will be free to choose their representatives. The election silence does not mean that media outlets shall stop their role of oversight, analysis, and publishing news of the elections. However, this is confined to paid advertisements.

As concluding remarks, the Monitor would like to note the following:

• Commitment to the stage of election silence reflects abidance by the law. When media outlets violate the law, this makes them lose their credibility with the public. Applying the law is an integral process. We should not abide by the law only when it serves our interests.
• In spite of the legal framework of the stage of election silence, there is an ethical aspect linked to the profession of the press and the national role of the media. The abandonment by the press of the ethical aspect means abandoning the core of its mission.
• The lack of commitment by media outlets to election silence is an indication of the weakness and shallowness of democratic traditions in our community.