Islamists ‘ready with inclusive tickets’ as polls approach

AMMAN — The Islamic Action Front (IAF) on Monday said it has completed the lists with partnerships it will run with in the upcoming parliamentary election, and will announce them before the end of this week.

Murad Adaileh, the IAF spokesperson said members of these lists represent different spectra, to include non-Islamists, members of political parties, tribesmen and nominees competing for certain quotas.

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

He stopped short of giving details, but said the lists are of national nature and “do not represent the Muslim Brotherhood alone”. 

However, a source familiar with the Brotherhood’s outreach efforts told The Jordan Times that the lists cover all governorates and “they will have more than one ticket” in some areas. 

The Islamist party is building these partnerships to enhance its presence in the upcoming parliamentary elections, slated for September 20.

The IAF is the political arm of the unlicensed Muslim Brotherhood (MB) and the only legitimate entity representing the seven-decade-old group that was labelled as illegal in Jordan after a rival, splinter group registered itself as the legitimate Brotherhood.

Islamists boycotted the 2010 and 2013 polls citing the “unjust” electoral law, namely, the controversial one-person, one-vote formula and alleged vote rigging in 2007.

That system was discarded by the Elections Law, and replaced by a voting system in which candidates can run for parliamentary elections on one large multimember ticket at the district level.

The MB was declared illegal and its offices were closed by authorities after a group of defectors registered the Muslim Brotherhood Society as a Jordanian entity, taking advantage of the fact that the older group was affiliated with the mother group in Egypt, and seizing some of the group’s properties after winning lawsuits.