King, Jordan Brotherhood
At Stalemate on Elections

The meetings between intermediaries for the royal palace and the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan are still ongoing. The court is trying to discourage the Brothers from boycotting the parliamentary elections scheduled to take place before the end of the year. Meanwhile, Jordan's King Abdullah II declared that the Brotherhood is at a crossroads: Either it participates in the upcoming election or remains in the street.

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Summary : The stalemate continues between Jordan's Muslim Brotherhood and King Abdullah II, writes Tamer al-Samadi. The Brotherhood's threat to boycott elections is dismissed by the king as a move which would keep the Brothers out of government and in the street. Publisher: Al-Hayat (Pan Arab) Original Title: Jordan: the meetings with the Brotherhood have reached an impasse Author: Tamer al-Samadi First Published: September 14, 2012 Posted on: September 14 2012 Translated by: Sahar Ghoussoub Categories : Jordan

However, it seems that the dialogue has reached an impasse, according to insiders. According to a statement made by the group’s second-in-command, Zaki Bani Arshid, the ongoing meetings are nothing but "blank bullets." Meanwhile, Minister and former "Brother" Bassam al-Ammoush, the royal broker assigned to converse with the Brotherhood, did not hesitate to express the resentment of the official institution regarding the conditions set by the Brotherhood in order to participate in the elections. "Who does not want to marry off his daughter, must raise her dowry," he said.

Well-informed sources told Al-Hayat that the royal broker required the Brotherhood to submit written perceptions of their reformist demands to the palace. However, those close to Ammoush told Al-Hayat that this latter is not optimistic about the meetings' outcome, given the Brotherhood insistence on making radical amendment to the election law.

In an interview with AFP, the Jordanian King said the day before yesterday [Sept. 12] that “the Muslim Brotherhood are miscalculating [their political moves] by announcing their boycott of the elections.” In response to the king’s statements, Bani-Arshid asked: “Why should the Islamic movement be trapped between two options, to participate [in the elections] or stay in the street? All we are asking for is real reform and serious popular participation.”

He noted, “If we are to be trapped between two options, resorting to the street would be a better and more effective choice.” 

Jordanian MP Bassam Haddadin said that the king’s recent remarks put the dots on the i's, adding that “the Islamists no longer have a margin for maneuvering.” He told Al-Hayat: “There is an electoral obligation that needs to be accomplished, and the Muslim Brotherhood will not be able to revert the boycotting decision.” He continued: “The group’s announcement of the formation of the Supreme Council for Reform conclusively set the equation. ... The current dominating parliament has a radical bent led by a Muslim Brotherhood figure called Salem al-Falahat, who insists on making unreasonable demands and calling for a constitutional monarchy, which makes the group incapable of moving toward participation [in the elections]."

Bani Arshid told Al-Hayat about new versions being adopted by the group for the first time regarding the proposed amendments to the electoral law. He talked about three scenarios/versions proposed by the group. The first calls for holding the elections based on the full national list, whereby each party or bloc nominates 120 deputies (according to the number of parliamentary seats) and allows voters to vote on one.

The second formula is more like a pluralistic system, where voters chose candidate from a national electoral list of candidates, who would have 50% of the parliamentary seats. Voters cast ballots in their governorate according to the number of seats allocated to the governorate (this formula was previously adopted by the Brotherhood). The third formula is based on the election law of 1989, according to which the national list would be cancelled and voters would cast ballots according to the number of seats allocated to a governorate.

In July, the parliament made amendments to the new election law by allocating 27 seats to the national electoral open list, while preserving the law that stipulates that each governorate gets one vote.

The protests continued throughout the Jordanian cities for the sixth consecutive day, demanding the departure of the government and the release of young people who were imprisoned for chanting slogans against government institutions.

Riots broke out in the village of Rakhine affiliated with the southern city of Karak, demanding the release of detainees. Security forces and protesters clashed and tear gas was fired. In Amman, people rallied before the Interior Ministry headquarters and chanted slogans against the government, which prompted security forces to arrest two. According to some politicians, the sit-ins and rallies are troubling the decision makers in the country. Many feared that confrontations would escalate between security forces and activists due to the impact of congestion and the persistent of chants.