Jordans elect new parliament in cautious move toward reform

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Voting in the pro-Western monarchy comes at a time of growing conflict in the region, highlighting Jordan’s efforts to portray itself as an island of stability despite external and internal threats by Islamic extremists. The Islamic Action Front participated in this vote in part to get round legal moves to ban it and the Brotherhood for boycotting elections.

Polls close at 7:00 p.m. (16:00 GMT/UTC).

Electoral posters for parliamentary candidates are seen ahead of the general elections on Tuesday, in Madaba city, near Amman, Jordan, September 19, 2016.

These lists were formed under the “National Coalition for Reform” and cover most of the country’s constituencies, said Zaki Bani Rsheid, head of the IAF’s higher elections commission.

Last time the country went to the polls in 2013, turnout was 56 percent, with this year looking set to have the lowest turnout in a generation. Momani said there was no point in comparing turnout percentages.

The results are expected within the next 48 hours.

Voter Nour al-Ghwairi, 44, said she hoped the new parliament would tackle Jordan’s economic difficulties, such as rising joblessness, particularly among the young. “The country suffers from unemployment and other problems”, she said after voting in the Jabal Hussein neighbourhood of the capital, Amman. Katrina Sammour, a political researcher, said she would cast a blank ballot in protest because she believes parliament is weak and no party or list addresses her concerns. The election represents a modest step in the democratisation process launched by staunch US ally King Abdullah as he seeks to insulate Jordan from the conflicts at its borders.

According to a June survey conducted by the International Republican Institute think tank, 87 percent of Jordanians believed the most recent parliament had accomplished nothing worthy of commendation. The rules replace the “one man, one vote” system that was introduced in 1993 and weakened political parties.

The Brotherhood is one of the oldest and most influential political forces in the Middle East, boasting followers and affiliated political parties across the region. Critics say reforms have fallen short and won’t bring real change.

They expect the parliament being chosen Tuesday to be similar to the outgoing one — largely an assembly of individuals with competing narrow interests, widely dismissed by Jordanians as ineffective in dealing with endemic unemployment and other crises.

Under revised rules, voters choose candidates from lists in 23 electoral districts. In all, 1,252 candidates are running on 226 district lists.

In Jordan, King Abdullah II can appoint and sack military and intelligence chiefs, senior judges and members of parliament’s upper house without government approval.

The new election rules are “a step forward, but it is not yet enough to create a serious breakthrough on the reform track”, said analyst Oraib al-Rantawi.

Anja Wehler-Schoeck, Jordan director of Germany’s Friedrich Ebert Foundation, said that “we are still very far from” a robust parliamentary democracy.

The most organized party is the Islamic Action Front, the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, a veteran opposition movement linked to the regional organization of the same name. In Jordan, ideological arguments split the group into rival factions, with one recognized by the government as the official Brotherhood.

Adayleh, who is also a candidate, said he expects his party will win between one-fourth and one-third of the seats.

Electoral laws that favour tribal areas rather than the cities where Islamists enjoy most support mean they are unlikely to dominate the poll, but they could still shake up Jordan’s parliament.

Ayoub Alnmour, an elections analyst with RASED, a Jordanian civil society organisation, said he won’t measure the election’s success by votes cast but by the process’s social impacts.