Jordan is holding parliamentary elections on Tuesday, the first under a new electoral system, which represents a change in the country in which there will be more pluralism, including that of the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, which could gain ground due to its position on the war in Jordan. Loop.
Jihad al-Momani, a member of Jordan’s Independent Electoral Commission, said that Jordan will experience a “change in the functioning of the next House of Representatives after the elections, with the presence of parties and the formation of political blocs based on partisan criteria,” which means that the chamber will be more concerned with “important issues, such as political and administrative reforms.”
Jordan holds these elections after carrying out constitutional amendments in 2022 that led to a new electoral and political parties law, with the aim of modernizing the political system in the Hashemite Kingdom.
In this new system, in addition to increasing the seats in the chamber from 130 to 138, political parties will have a more important role in the country, in which they will also raises the quota for women's representation from 15 to 18 seats.
Jordan is a parliamentary monarchy, in which the king is a central figure and makes decisions on the most important political, economic and state matters.
Gaza as a protagonist
The war in the Gaza Strip, which began on October 7, will be one of the main issues in these elections in a country that has seen numerous mass demonstrations against Israel, although these protests have been repressed by the Jordanian authorities.
“The entire Jordanian state is concerned about the situation in Gaza and no political movement, Islamist, nationalist, leftist or otherwise, can believe that it is the only one and the most concerned about Gaza,” said Al Momani, who asserted that “it is not possible to predict which parties will win.”
A total of 5.115.219 Jordanians are eligible to vote, of whom 52,6% are women. Voters under the age of 25 account for almost 1.119.832 of the electorate, representing 21,9%, according to the Jordanian Independent Electoral Commission.
In addition, A large majority of Jordanian citizens are of Palestinian origin, who tend to live in urban areas, where there was hardly any participation in the last parliamentary elections in 2020, in which only 29,9% participation was reached nationwide.
Islamist parties in the spotlight
Political analyst Jihad al-Mansi explained that the issue of some “specific parties” showing “solidarity with Gaza has nothing to do with the elections,” in clear reference to Islamist groups such as the Islamic Action Front (FAI), the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Despite losing influence in the last elections, he is now in the running to gain more positions in the chamber.
The protests that erupted across the country, with demonstrators often carrying banners and photos of Hamas terrorist group symbols and expressing support for the movement, opened up space for opposition parties, especially Islamist factions, to send anti-government messages and oppose the 1994 peace agreement between Jordan and Israel, as well as their economic relations.
Opponents have called for the resumption of official contacts with Hamas, whose leaders were expelled from the kingdom in 1999.
According to a study conducted by the Jordan Center for Strategic Studies in August 2022, only 2% of the sample surveyed is considering joining a political party, while 94% do not follow any party activity and 51% do not expect the success of a plurality of parties.
Hayat al-Dbeas and agencies contributed to this Aurora article.