Jordan's Islamists seek to shake up parliament at polls, fueled by anger over Gaza

Jordan's main opposition, buoyed by anger over the Gaza war, says it expects its Islamists to win enough seats in Tuesday's election to loudly challenge the country's pro-Western stance, a result that could stir up the kingdom's staid political scene.

The opposition Islamic Action Front (IAF), the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, says its voice is needed in the assembly to help reverse unpopular economic policies, stand up to laws curbing public freedoms and oppose further normalization with Israel, with which Jordan has a 1994 peace treaty.

"It's enough that there is a significant bloc that is able to influence public opinion and the general political scene," Murad Adailah, the head of Jordan's Muslim Brotherhood and an ideological ally of the Palestinian group Hamas, told Reuters.

In a country where anti-Israel sentiment runs high, the Gaza war is expected to help the electoral fortunes of the IAF, which is Jordan's largest opposition party and has led some of the region's biggest rallies backing Hamas.

Hundreds took to the streets of Amman to celebrate on Sunday, hours after a gunman from Jordan shot dead three Israeli civilians at a border crossing in the occupied West Bank.

The IAF, fielding only 38 candidates for the 138-seat assembly, is unlikely to unseat the tribal, centrist and pro-government deputies who dominate a system under-representing cities, where their Islamist and liberal opponents do best.

But the Islamists, who have angered the authorities with demands to abrogate the peace treaty and end commercial ties with Israel, are urging supporters to go out and vote to show their opposition to Israel's offensive in Gaza.

"Today what is happening in Gaza is an existentialist battle and neither the Jordanian or Islamic movement can be bystanders. The voice of the Jordanian street was heard and influential," Adailah said in an interview on Monday.

He said the Jordanian state needed a strong parliament more than ever, arguing that a vocal IAF parliamentary presence could strengthen Jordan's ability navigate, and if necessary stand up to, any pressures it might face from Israel and Western allies.

Adailah was echoing sentiments by many Jordanians across the political spectrum, who fear Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government seeks a wider war in which Palestinians in the occupied West Bank could be pushed out to Jordan.


Reuters