GOLD Report I - UCLG

221one year, is steadily increasing. From1995 to 2003, the percentage of temporarymunicipal employees increased from21.4% to 35%. These temporary workerscan be far more easily taken on and dismissed.Throughout the region, the recruitment ofmunicipal employees is not done on thebasis of their skills and experience, but ratherthrough patronage based on politicalor community factors.This practice results in an excess of staff,many of whom are poorly qualified or unqualified.Officials simply award jobs in localgovernment as a means of establishingtheir personal influence. Though to somedegree ubiquitous, this practice is especiallycommon in Lebanon and Jordan.Inefficiency is by no means the only harmfuleffect of pervasive nepotism and patronage.Such practices perpetuate a systemof corruption whereby the person who providedthe job expects favors in return. Theperception of corruption is strong in theregion. When citizens in a 2002 Turkish surveyassessed their confidence in localauthorities at only 5.2 out of 10, the nationalgovernment was moved to create aspecial ethics committee to investigate corruption,and three new laws 41 were passedto address the situation. But this requires astrong political will. It should also be notedthat the countries that obtain the best scoresregarding corruption are also those,such as Dubai, with the most visibly proactivestate policies.IV.Local democracyIV.1. A changing local democracyTable 2 summarizes significant advances inlocal democracy in the Middle East region.Note that if the local elections in somecountries are based on specially devisedelection law, they are still in the process ofdevelopment.In Saudi Arabia, Prince Mansour Bin Mitab,a firm supporter and the main organizer ofmunicipal elections, did not hesitate todescribe them as the first stage, emphasizingthat improvements are still needed,including women having the right to vote.As evidence of the newness of the election,the electoral districts themselves had to bedrawn up after the registration of voters onelectoral lists.Jordan, since the first local elections in1999, has been going backward and forward.The government went back on thenomination of mayors in 2003, but promisedto hold new elections on the basis ofuniversal suffrage before the beginning of2007 – except in the city of Amman, whichhas special status. There were until now360 appointed council members comparedwith 920 who are elected. The numberof municipalities has been reduced frommore than 300 to 99. With the new municipallaw of 2007, all council members areelected, except in Amman. Indeed, themunicipal elections took place on the 31stof July 2007; about 2,300 candidates ranfor 1,022 seats.In Lebanon, the election by universal suffrageof mayors and their senior deputies wasabolished just before the 1998 elections byan amendment in extremis of election law.Mayors are now elected by the municipalcouncil.In Palestine, the voting method is not fixed.Since 2005, when municipal elections wereconducted in five successive stages, therehave been changes to the procedure, passingfrom voting for a single candidate toproportional representation. Moreover, theright to vote is not the same throughout thePalestinian territories. In the Gaza Strip, allrefugees can vote, regardless of their placeof residence; in the West Bank, refugeeswho live in the towns take part in the voting,but those who still live in the refugee campsindicate their wish to return to their homelandby unanimously keeping well awayfrom local political life.41. Law no. 3628 of 4May 1990 amendedby law no. 5020 of26 December 2003,law no. 5237 of 26September 2004 ofthe penal code.