Internal Democracy Brief

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COPYRIGHT (CC) 2020, NIMD, THE HAGUE, THE NETHERLANDS This is a publication of The Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy (NIMD) This publication or parts of it can be used by others for free as long as they provide a proper reference to the original publication. The content of this research is the sole responsibility of the author and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of NIMD. This research was originally written in English language.

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Contents

Introduction ...... 4 Political Parties’ Internal Democrac ...... 4 Figure 1: Number of Secretary Generals Per Party ...... 6 Table 1: Establishment Date of Political Parties & The Number of Sitting Secretaries-General ...... 7 Figure 2: Change Frequency of Secretaries-General in Political Parties ...... 9 Figure 3: Change Frequency of Secretaries-General in Political Parties ...... 10 Figure 4: The Percentage of Change Frequency of Secretaries-General in Political Parties ...... 11 Figure 5: Average of Years Per S.G. Per Party ...... 12

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Introduction

Jordan remains far from being a fully-fledged democracy, yet many of the local stakeholders that demand democratization of the country, namely political parties, remain inherently undemocratic in their structures and practices. There are many indicators that could be used to measure internal democracy in political parties, most prominent of which is the rotation of Secretaries-General and the average length of time for each term they spend in office. The following brief will focus on this aspect to gauge the level of internal democracy practiced in political parties.

Political Parties’ Internal Democracy

The party with the highest number of rotations for Secretaries-General is the “Islamic Centrist Party” with 10 S.G.’s and with an average of 1.8 years for each, followed by the “Islamic Action Front Party” and the “United Jordanian Front Party” with 5 S.G.’s per party and with an average of 4.5 years and 2 years per party respectively. As for the remaining parties, 28 parties have had only one S.G. since their establishment with varying averages of years per S.G. depending on the date of establishment. However, it is worth noting that the party with the longest sitting S.G. is the “Progressive Arab Baa'th Party” with an average of 26 years for its current S.G. which has been in place since its establishment in April, 1993. Most of the remaining 16 parties have had only 2 S.G.’s and with a minority of them

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having between 2 to 5 S.G.’s with varying averages and number of years per S.G. depending on the year of establishment. When looking at the average number of years per S.G. per party, we get a different picture. The overall average number of years per S.G. per party hovers around 5.4 years for all parties, which can still be considered a bit high, especially if we assume that the average number of years per term is 4 years. However, since most parties are less than 10 years old, the number of years per S.G. per party could be considered “acceptable”, especially if we exclude parties with exceptionally high number of years per S.G. per party (10 years or more), which can be considered an anomaly in the sample. It is worth taking into consideration that there are 5 parties1 (Reform Party, Jordanian National Gathering Party (TAWAD), Knights Party, Jordanian Promise Party, and Al-Nedaa' Party) that had a change in S.G. (only 2 S.G.’s since establishment) due to the demise of their S.G.’s, which cannot really be considered as internal democracy. This also means that parties that had only one S.G. since their establishment and the average number of years per S.G. per party would increase, drawing a grimmer picture of the reality.

1 Marked with an asterisk

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Figure 1: Number of Secretary Generals Per Party

Al-Shura Party Al-Shura

Knights Party* Knights

Reform Party* Reform

Al-Rayah Party Al-Rayah

Gallantry Party Gallantry

Al-Resalah Party Al-Resalah

Al-Nedaa' Party* Al-Nedaa'

Jordan Ahrar Party Ahrar Jordan

Social Justice Party Justice Social

Conservatives Party Conservatives

National Unity Party Unity National Party Unity National

Islamic Centrist Party Centrist Islamic

Stronger Jordan Party Jordan Stronger

Jordanian Ansar Party Ansar Jordanian

National Current Party Current National

Justice & Reform Party Reform & Justice Party Future Jordanian

Al-Wafa' National Party National Al-Wafa'

Al-Balad Al-Ameen Party Al-Ameen Al-Balad

National Jordanian Party Jordanian National

Al-Hayat Jordanian Party Jordanian Al-Hayat

Islamic Action Front (IAF) Front Action Islamic

Jordanian Promise Party* Promise Jordanian

Freedom & Equality Party Equality & Freedom

Modernity & Change Party Change & Modernity

Partnership & Rescue Party & Rescue Partnership

Jordanian Communist Party Communist Jordanian

Justice & Development Party Development & Justice

United Jordanian Front Party Front Jordanian United

National Constitutional Party Constitutional National

Progressive Arab Baa'th Party Baa'th Arab Progressive

Nationalistic Movement Party Movement Nationalistic

Jordanian Youth National Party National Youth Jordanian

Jordanian National Union Party Union National Jordanian

Al-Awn Jordanian National Party National Jordanian Al-Awn

Reform & Renewal Party (HASAD) Party Renewal & Reform

National Congress Party (Zamzam) Party Congress National

Jordanian National Gathering Party… Gathering National Jordanian

Jordanian Democratci Nature Party Nature Democratci Jordanian

People's Democratic Party (HASHD) Party Democratic People's

Jordanian Popular Unity Democratic… Unity Popular Jordanian

Jordanian Socialist Democratic Party Democratic Socialist Jordanian

Jordanian Socialist Arab Baa'th Party Baa'th Arab Socialist Jordanian

National Jordanian Orientation Party Orientation Jordanian National Jordanian National Action Front Party Front Action National Jordanian National Jordanian Rennaisance Party Rennaisance Jordanian National

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Table 1: Establishment Date of Political Parties & The Number of Sitting Secretaries-General

Average Years Since of Years Party Date of Establishment Number of SG's Since Establishment Establishment Per S.G. Per Party Islamic Action Front (IAF) 7/12/1992 6 27 4.5 Jordanian Socialist Arab Baa'th Party 17/01/1993 2 26 13.0 Jordanian Communist Party 17/01/1993 3 26 8.7 People's Democratic Party (HASHD) 17/01/1993 4 26 6.5 Jordanian Popular Unity Democratic Party 9/2/1993 2 26 13.0 Progressive Arab Baa'th Party 13/04/1993 1 26 26.0 National Constitutional Party 19/12/1997 3 22 7.3 Nationalistic Movement Party 7/10/1997 5 22 4.4 Islamic Centrist Party 7/12/2001 10 18 1.8 Al-Resalah Party 31/12/2002 1 17 17.0 National Jordanian Party 19/02/2007 1 12 12.0 United Jordanian Front Party 30/09/2007 6 12 2.0 Al-Hayat Jordanian Party 19/02/2008 3 11 3.7 National Current Party 31/08/2009 1 10 10.0 Justice & Development Party 9/6/2009 1 10 10.0 Freedom & Equality Party 6/11/2009 1 10 10.0 Jordanian National Union Party 10/12/2011 5 8 1.6 Jordanian Youth National Party 30/11/2011 2 8 4.0 Justice & Reform Party 1/4/2012 2 7 3.5 Jordanian National Action Front Party 1/12/2012 3 7 2.3 Reform & Renewal Party (HASAD) 19/12/2012 1 7 7.0 Reform Party* 23/02/2012 2 7 3.5 Jordanian National Gathering Party (TAWAD)* 24/06/2013 2 6 3.0 Knights Party* 8/4/2013 2 6 3.0

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Gallantry Party 10/10/2013 1 6 6.0 Stronger Jordan Party 11/6/2013 1 6 6.0 Social Justice Party 2/1/2014 1 5 5.0 Al-Shura Party 5/5/2014 1 5 5.0 Al-Balad Al-Ameen Party 9/6/2014 1 5 5.0 Jordanian Ansar Party 1/7/2014 1 5 5.0 Al-Wafa' National Party 18/01/2015 1 4 4.0 National Unity Party 23/05/2015 1 4 4.0 Al-Awn Jordanian National Party 13/07/2015 1 4 4.0 Jordanian Socialist Democratic Party 8/2/2016 1 3 3.0 Jordanian Democratic Nature Party 8/2/2016 1 3 3.0 Jordanian Future Party 21/03/2016 1 3 3.0 Jordan Ahrar Party 21/03/2016 1 3 3.0 National Jordanian Orientation Party 21/03/2016 1 3 3.0 National Jordanian Renaissance Party 17/04/2016 1 3 3.0 Conservatives Party 18/05/2016 1 3 3.0 Jordanian Promise Party* 31/05/2016 2 3 1.5 Al-Nedaa' Party* 13/07/2016 2 3 1.5 Al-Rayah Party 13/07/2016 1 3 3.0 National Congress Party (Zamzam) 11/8/2016 1 3 3.0 Modernity & Change Party 17/04/2017 1 2 2.0 National Unity Party 27/12/2017 1 2 2.0 Partnership & Rescue Party 27/12/2017 1 2 2.0

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Figure 2: Change Frequency of Secretaries-General in Political Parties

30 28

10 9

5 4

2 2 1 1

0 1 Secretary General 2 Secretary General 3 Secretary General 4 Secretary General 5 Secretary General 6 Secretary General 10 Secretary General

Number of Secretary Generals

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Figure 3: Change Frequency of Secretaries-General in Political Parties

1 2 2

28 9

1 Secretary General 2 Secretary General 3 Secretary General 4 Secretary General 5 Secretary General 6 Secretary General 10 Secretary General

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Figure 4: The Percentage of Change Frequency of Secretaries-General in Political Parties

2,1 4,3 4,3

2,1

8,5

1 Secretary General 2 Secretary General 3 Secretary General 4 Secretary General 5 Secretary General 6 Secretary General

59,6 10 Secretary General 19,1

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Figure 5: Average of Years Per S.G. Per Party

30,0

25,0

20,0

15,0

10,0

5,0

0,0