Elections just got a bit more interesting…
Jordan’s first woman MP to run in November vote
AMMAN — Jordan’s first woman MP said Sunday she would stand in November’s parliamentary election, five years after a military court sentenced her to jail for accusing officials of corruption.
Tujan Faisal, 58, who served in parliament from 1993 to 1997, announced her candidacy in the November 20 polls for Jordan’s Circassian community, to which she belongs.
“I expect the government to say if it has a problem with my decision within 10 days. Otherwise, I will go ahead and exercise my rights,” Faisal said.
“I have obtained legal documents from a magistrates’ court in Amman that enable me to run in the polls. I was put on trial for a political crime,” said Faisal who has a reputation for launching fiery attacks on the authorities.
In 2002, the state security court sentenced her to 18 months in prison for spreading information harmful to the reputation of the state, and for accusing government officials of corruption.
But King Abdullah II pardoned Faisal after she served 100 days, following appeals by Circassians. According to unofficial estimates, Circassians number between 20,000 and 80,000 out of a population of around 6 million. [source]
I am thrilled to see a Circasian running for this post.
Althought I love tough women, this one is a bit more scandelous than my taste! She causes fights for the sake of fights without real results on the ground.
But, she can be a better alternative than the silent parliament we had the past 4 years! It has been so dull! A bit fireworks from Toujan Faisal can bring life to it!
Hope she wins.
i definitly hope that she wins.. atleast she has had the guts to voice her opinion, an action that is extremely limited in our society.. unfortunatly!
I do not share some of her opinions, but I definitely respect her fight against corruption and her strong personality, I hope she wins!
It would be a real challenge for her to win. Many Cicassians won’t vote for her because they don’t think she’s a good represntative for them, that was the reaon she lost last time.
She has to count more on votes from non-Circassians and that’s very difficult with the one-man-one-vote rule.
any sane person would be driven insane by the magnitude of corruption and incompetence in jordan. Joujan is the only sane secular Jordanian politician remaining. the others want to cash in. he imprisonment shows beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the more you love jordan, the more dangerous you become to the establishment. the less you care for jordan, the easier its’ to buy you off. Toujan could not be bought, so they defamed her, falsely accused her, and jailed her. there is a lesson to all good Jordanians in Toujan’s ordeal.
we need more toujans, then the rats will have to scurry for cover.
Toujan is Jordan’s First Lady.
I still did not get over her unthoughtful statements to Al Jazeera the night of November 9th 2005 when she described the terrorist bombing in Amman as a “natural consequence of political oppression”. As for her chances I agree with Hareega said. She has to rely on non-Circassian votes. If she goes for the 6th district (Sweileh) she has no chance against Sameeh Bino who is very strong and popular among Circassians and Chechens. If she runs in the 7th (Wadi Seer and Jandaweel) she will find troubles against Munir Sober who has the financial wealth to mobilize voters as well as the strong unity of Circassians in Wadi Seer who will not welcome a candidate from Amman.
I’m in concert with Batir and Hareega, I think that Tujan is politically dead, she already had her fifteen minutes of fame and didn’t know how properly to use it. She was always acting as if the whole world is against her; she gives you that angry look even when she is in a good mood. She describes her self as a reformist but so is every other Jordanian out there thinks of themselves as a reformist. I’m predicting that if Touojan takes the forward leap she will be very miserably trounced. Jordan today drastically differs from Jordan of the nineties; past performance is no guarantee of future results particularly in the Jordanian political sphere. Tujan has already lost in the court of public opinion and she will lose once again in official tally of cast votes in the ballot box . Tujan reminds me of the movie Rocky Bilbao, he went back into boxing after so many years have gone by thinking that he still got it, the result was humiliating defeat, Tujan would be better off cutting her losses and moving on as an ordinary respectful former Jordanian polemical member of the erstwhile Parliament.
Batir give me a break,millions of Jordanian had the same sentiment after the Bombing ,To all Jordanian Bloggers just listen to her once for god’s sake
Toujan might be what the secular Jordanian street is looking for especially when all we have left in terms of decent Jordanian politicians are the IAF. She should be a welcome and timely addition to the depressing political scene in Jordan.
Al Urduni have you opened a public opinion poll center while you are in the USA? millions of Jordanians? how much 5 or 6 or 8 millions and are they below 15 years or older.