These days, one dominant question has Amman’s political salons buzzing: How will Islamists fare in the upcoming legislative elections? There is a very good reason for this.

The elections scheduled for Sept. 20 will see four Islamist parties and alliances competing for places in the 130-seat Lower House. All eyes, including those of the government, will be fixed on the performance of one particular group — the long-established, unlicensed Muslim Brotherhood Group (MBG), which has decided to contest the elections after boycotting the last two, in 2013 and 2010. The group had sat out the previous elections because it opposed the single-vote system and to protest alleged government meddling in the results of elections in 2007.

The MBG’s decision to participate in this year’s balloting comes in the wake of a number of incidents that have tested the 70-year-old movement. Over the last three years, the group has experienced internal divisions, government harassment and rebellions against its hardline leadership that led to defections and the creation of two splinter movements: the Muslim Brotherhood Society (MBS), which the government then recognized as the MBG's legitimate replacement, and the Zamzam Initiative, which later became a political party. The two splinter groups have decided to contest this year’s elections, as will the Muslim Center Party (al-Wasat), a moderate Islamist party that had representatives in the previous legislature.

The MBG’s decision to end its boycott followed the passage in March of a new election law that ended decades of the single-vote system and replaced it with an open, proportional list scheme that ostensibly aims to encourage the formation of blocs and alliances, especially among the kingdom’s more than 50 licensed political parties. The government claims that the new law will also override the role of political money, that is, vote buying, and promote competition on the basis of programs instead of personalities. It is a cumbersome law that baffles voters and candidates alike.