EU election observation missions always observe women's participation in the electoral process as candidates, politicians, members of the election administration and voters. Here is the section about women's participation in our Preliminary Statement:

"Social practice overshadows the inclusion dimension of the legal framework when it comes to the participation of women, youth and persons with disabilities in political life."

"While the modernisation process and the quota system were praised by stakeholders for aiming toward inclusiveness, deep-rooted cultural, social, and economic barriers continue to shape women's political involvement. Lack of funding poses a significant challenge, especially registration fees and campaign costs were considered high. Youth and persons with disabilities face similar obstacles. Women often experience coercion from their families and tribes regarding voting and contesting. Positively, some women candidates emphasised that the new provision for publicly employed candidates to be able to take unpaid leave, instead of resigning from their job, was essential to their opportunity to stand."

"The Political Parties Law strengthened the inclusion of women, youth, and persons with disabilities in party structures and as candidates. In addition, public funding is granted for each elected woman, youth, or person with disabilities. The Electoral Law increased the number of quota seats for women from 15 to 18, with one in each Local Electoral District (LED). Out of the 190 LED women candidates, 166 chose to contest the reserved seats, while 24 contested non-reserved seats. In the General Electoral District (GED), there are no reserved seats but an obligation to place women candidates within the first three and the next three positions on each list. Among the 25 GED lists only one was headed by a woman. Women made up 20.3 per cent of LED and 27.5 per cent of GED candidates. The EU EOM observed that women's participation in campaign events was relatively low, about one fifth of both speakers and participants, while youth participation was more notable."

Read the Preliminary Statement of the EU Election Observation Mission to Jordan 2024 HERE