IAF running on 20 ‘national’ lists in elections — official

AMMAN — The Islamic Action Front (IAF), the political arm of the banned Muslim Brotherhood, will run in the upcoming elections on 20 “national” lists, an IAF official said on Saturday. 

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. 

At a press conference on Saturday, Bani Rsheid said that these lists represent the population spectrum, to include Christian candidates, Jordanians of Circassian and Chechen origins, women and youth representatives, members of other political parties and national and tribal personalities.

Under the 2015 Elections Law, quotas are designated for women, Christians and Jordanians of Circassian or Chechen origins.

Although the coalition was formed prior to the parliamentary elections, it will continue after the September 20 vote and winning candidates will work together under the Dome, Bani Rsheid said.  

He also announced the coalition’s election programme for political, economic and social reforms. 

The IAF decided to take part in the upcoming elections because the local and regional challenges require all Jordanians to stand together, he said. 

IAF Secretary General Mohammad Zyoud also spoke at the press conference, and said that in the past, the party had participated in some elections and boycotted others to send a political message. 

The IAF boycotted the elections in 2010 and 2013 because of the one-person, one-vote electoral system, the “interference of authorities” in the electoral process and “forgery of the elections’ results” in 2007, Zyoud added. 

The Elections Law discarded the one-person, one-vote electoral system and replaced it with a voting system in which candidates run for parliamentary elections on large tickets at the district level.

There are 122 candidates on the 20 lists that the IAF is running on, including four candidates of Circassian or Chechen origins, five Christians and 19 women, as well as a former minister and 15 former deputies, according to Bani Rsheid.