The Islamic Action Front, the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood and Jordan's main opposition party, came out first in Wednesday’s parliamentary elections, against the backdrop of a sluggish economy and the war in the Gaza Strip. The party won 31 of the 41 seats reserved for political parties (out of a total of 138) in the future parliament, which enjoys limited powers, according to results announced by the electoral commission.
As usual, the majority went to tribal leaders, businessmen and former military personnel loyal to the monarchy.
The Islamists held just 10 seats out of 130 in the current parliament (compared with 16 in the 2016 legislative elections). They had achieved their best result in the 1989 legislative elections, with 22 seats out of 80.
The chairman of the Independent Electoral Commission, Moussa al-Maaytah, said at a press conference that the results achieved by the front illustrated “the Jordanian state’s commitment to political pluralism ... and the participation of its citizens in decision-making.”
Twenty-seven women will sit in this parliament following a vote marked by a high abstention rate.
‘Unprecedented’
Oraib Rantawi, analyst and director of the al-Quds Center for Political Studies in Amman, said he was surprised by the the result obtained by the Islamists. “The number of votes cast was close to half a million, an unprecedented figure for the Islamist movement,” he told AFP, despite the country’s population of 11.5 million.
According to him, the war in the Gaza Strip influenced the outcome of the legislative elections in the kingdom, where almost half the Jordanian population is of Palestinian origin. Demonstrations have regularly called for the annulment of the peace treaty since the outbreak of hostilities.
“We are pleased with these results and with the trust the Jordanian people have placed in us. These elections mark an important step towards the development of our political system,” said the party’s Secretary General Wael al-Saqa. He promised to mobilize efforts in support of Gaza and the Palestinian cause.
Two days before the legislative elections, a Jordanian killed three Israeli security guards at a border crossing between Jordan and the West Bank.
The kingdom is calling for a cease-fire in Gaza, where the war provoked by a Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7 has entered its 12th month.
Neighboring Israel and the occupied West Bank, Jordan has seen a decline in tourism since the start of the war, a sector that accounts for around 14 percent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP). On Tuesday, some 1.6 million Jordanians voted out of a total of 5.1 million registered voters, according to the electoral commission.
These are the first elections since a new law was passed in January 2022 which increased the number of seats in Parliament from 130 to 138, raised the quota for women (from 15 to 18) and lowered the minimum age for candidates. The Jordanian Parliament is bicameral. In addition to the 138 elected MPs, there are 69 senators appointed by the monarch. The assembly can withdraw confidence from the government, approve and promulgate laws.
This article was originally published in L'Orient-Le Jour and translated by Joelle El Khoury.