Jordan’s government faces little challenge with MB offshoot’s absence

Jordan’s government faces little challenge with MB offshoot’s absence


According to the Jordanian Interior Ministry more than 800 candidates have registered to run in the Jordanian parliamentary election slated for November.
It appears however that the government faces little challenge after the MB offshoot the Islamic Action Front opposition decided to boycott.
 
The Ministry has confirmed that a total of 853 candidates, 142 of them women, are to contest the 120 seats in parliament, of which 12 are reserved for women.
Ten candidates have registered to run as independents, despite the boycott ordered by the leadership of the Islamic Action Front. In turn the dissidents have been told to withdraw their registration or else face expulsion from the powerful party.
 
The boycott comes about in protest to the set constituency boundaries for the parliamentary election which the IAF says over represents rural areas which are known to be loyal to the government at the expense of urban areas regarded as Islamist strongholds. The electoral law adopted in May returned to the controversial voting system used in 1998 and efforts by Prime Minister Samir Rifai to persuade the party to field candidates failed to secure a change of heart.
 
Since November Jordan has been without parliament after King Abdullah II dissolved the legislature for the second time since his assuming power following months of press allegations about the ineffectiveness and corruption of numerous MPs.