Jordan Watch
An update and analysis of development and reform challenges in Jordan from a social democratic perspective.

Government stocks go down after 100 days in market!
Monday, March 20, 2006

Just like the detrerioration of the Jordanian stock market, the indicators of the Bakhit government have fallen down based on the landmark syrvey of governemnt performance organized and published by the Center for Strategic Studies in the University of Jordan.

According to an opinion poll the percentage of national sample, made up of 984 respondents from the general public, who believe the government was unsuccessful in shouldering its responsibilities was 16.2 per cent. In December last year, only 7.1 per cent of this sample said they believed the government would not be able to fulfil its responsibilities.

By comparison of the 641 opinion leaders surveyed 7.3 per cent said the government was unsuccessful in carrying out its responsibilities. In December, 5.1 per cent had said Bakhit's government will not succeed.
 

The CSS' latest survey showed that the percentage of Jordanians (the national sample) who said the government has been successful “to a large extent” in shouldering its responsibilities was 18 per cent, whereas in December 29.7 per cent believed the executive would do a good job.

Among the public opinion leaders, who include former officials, journalists and writers, university teachers, political parties and professional association leaders, businesspeople and other professionals, their rating of success to “a large extent” of the Bakhit government fell just above the December expectations (27.2 per cent at 100 days, and 26 per cent upon the formation of the government).
 
The survey shows that there is a wide and increasing rift of trust between the Jordanian public and the government. This trend of mis-trust has been evident of all the recent polls of previous government. A lot needs to be done by our governemnts to restore public trust.
 
According to the poll coordinator in CSS Dr. Fares Breizat who was interviewed by the Jordan Times, the survey reveals a widening gap in opinion between the national sample and opinion leaders in their rating of government performance.

He said one reason could be that opinion leaders follow with more interest the performance of governments and that most opinion leaders live in Amman putting them closer to the centre of events and the government.

posted by Batir Wardam in Democracy in Jordan @ 10:46 PM

Bookmark this post: KhabberDel.ici.ousDiggRedditY! MyWebGoogle Bookmarks
(3) comments


Add a Comment

On March, 21, 2006 1:14 AM , hatem abunimeh
from United States said:

I don't think that the government in Jordan lends any credence to these polls.
Usually,The government has a mandate and it follows the mandate to the letter irrespective of what these polls are saying.

In other words : Polling in Jordan is an exercise in futility, but that is just my opinion.

On March, 21, 2006 1:28 AM , Batir Wardam
from Jordan said:

Again I have to disagree with you Hatem in this point. The CSS poll is influential and affects the credibility of the governments. Back in 2000 the prime Minister Rawabdeh exerteed strong pressures on the University of Jordan to close the CSS or change the director Dr Mustapha Hamarneh since he was not impressed with the results of the poll for his governemnt. The polls do show an alarming trend of a gap between people and governments, and for any smart decision maker this is something that cannot be neglected.

On March, 21, 2006 6:10 PM , hatem abunimeh
from United States said:

Well, Jordan of 2000 is not like Jordan of 2006. Back then we didn't have terrorists straping themselves with explosives around their waist and blowing themselves up at wedding parties, nowaday, we do have those, and that in itself changes the way we think about and evaluate things around us.
Keeping pace with economic growth is one thing, but security for the country and its people is the number one priority right now, and the gap between the rich and the poor has always been there, it is not something novel.



Add a Comment

<<Home


Comments are not pre-approved. However, any comments including personal insults to the royal family members and insults based on Jordanian-Palestinian divisions will be deleted immediately. This is a platform for civilised dialogue, if you are not up to it go away.