The Islamic Action Front (FAI), the main component of the Jordanian opposition, beat all other parties in the legislative elections, but the majority, as usual, went to representatives of tribes and businessmen or former soldiers loyal to the monarchy, according to the provisional results announced on Wednesday 11 September by the electoral commission, the day after a vote marked by a high abstention rate.
The IAF, which is close to the Muslim Brotherhood, won 31 of the 41 seats reserved for political parties in a parliament with limited powers, which has 138 seats, of which 27 will be occupied by women. The Islamists won only 10 seats out of 130 in the outgoing parliament and 16 in the previous one, which was held in the 2016 legislative elections. They had obtained their best result during the 1989 legislative elections, with 22 seats out of 80.
The FAI result illustrates “The Jordanian State’s attachment to political pluralism. (…) and the participation of its citizens in decision-making”, said the chairman of the Independent Electoral Commission, Moussa Al-Maaytah, during a press conference.
Oraib Rantawi, director of the Al-Quds Center for Political Studies in Amman, said he was surprised by the“magnitude” of the result obtained by the Islamists. “The number of votes collected is approaching half a million, an unprecedented figure for the Islamist movement”he told Agence France-Presse (AFP), while the country has 11.5 million inhabitants.
The weight of war in the Gaza Strip
According to him, the war in the Gaza Strip between Israel and Hamas influenced the outcome of the parliamentary elections. Almost half of Jordan’s population is of Palestinian origin. Since the beginning of hostilities, demonstrations in favour of cancelling the peace treaty with Israel have taken place periodically there.
“We welcome these results and the trust that the Jordanian people have placed in us. These elections mark an important step towards the development of our political system.”“The IAF Secretary General Wael al-Saqa said, pledging to spare no effort to support the people of Gaza and the Palestinian cause. Two days before the legislative elections, a Jordanian man killed three Israeli security guards at a border post with the West Bank.
The kingdom is calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, where the war sparked by a Hamas attack on Israel on October 7 has entered its 12th month.
Jordan, a neighbour of Israel and the occupied West Bank, has seen a decline in tourism since the start of the war, a sector that accounts for around 14% of its gross domestic product (GDP). According to the electoral commission, around 1.6 million of the 5.1 million registered voters took part in the vote.
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These are the first elections since the adoption in January 2022 of a law that increased the number of seats in parliament from 130 to 138, raised the quota reserved for women from 15 to 18 years old and lowered the minimum age of candidates. The Jordanian parliament is bicameral. In addition to the 138 deputies, it has 69 senators appointed by the monarch. The assembly can withdraw its vote of confidence from the government, approve and enact laws.
