2 die in gunfire amid Jordanian voter celebrations

Official figures claim nationwide turnout hit 56.55% Amman – Osama Al Rantissi Two people were killed and others injured amid gunfire as Jordanians celebrated landmark parliamentary elections on Wednesday. The incident, which injured many others including some security staff, took place in a southern area of Karak province after polls closed on Wednesday evening.
Nationwide voter turnout has been announced at 56.55 percent. Jordan’s Independent Elections Commission [IEC] President Abdul Ilah Khatib said that 1,287,760 voters turned out to the polls, out of 2,272,182 total registered voters.
Former Jordanian Prime Minister Faisal al-Fayez said the parliamentary elections were "free and fair" and described the measures protecting electoral legitimacy as "unprecedented."
Jordanian Islamist groups meanwhile released a statement on Wednesday casting doubt over official turnout figures which, they claimed, were in fact “very low.”
The election also witnessed “mass infractions,” Islamists claimed, with incidents allegedly including “blatant” vote-buying, candidate advertising outside polling stations, opening ballot boxes as well as “gunshots and injuries” outside some polling stations.
The statement insisted that voter turnout did not exceed 12 percent in Amman, Irbid or Zarqa, and 25 percent in the rest of the country. Islamists estimated the total turnout at 16.7 percent.
Prime Minister Abullah Ensour said: "The new House of Representatives and government must be different."
Underlining the need for cooperation between parliament and government, Ensour claimed: "The ones who pay the price [for conflict] are the people who want a strong, firm and honest legislature and an executive branch that performs at the same level.”
"What we are achieving today are 100 percent fair and free elections," the Prime Minister claimed.
David Martin, chief observer of the European Union’s Election Observing Mission [EU EOM] to Jordan, also applauded the election on Wednesday, celebrating measures taken by the IEC to ensure elections ran in accordance with intentional standards. Jordan’s elections had been running "smoothly" throughout Wednesday, he said, adding that no major irregularities had taken place.
However, the EU observer did stipulate some "technical glitches" and other minor infractions, such as problems with electronic link-ups in some polling stations as well as candidates illegally publicising campaigns outside polling stations.