Jordan's Islamist party gains in parliamentary elections
Initial results showed the Islamic Action Front, Jordan's largest opposition party, having won 18 seats on the national party list and 14 seats on local lists and tribal regions.
Jordan’s Islamist opposition party has so far won 32 out of 138 seats in Tuesday’s parliamentary elections.
The Islamist Action Front, the political arm of Jordan’s Muslim Brotherhood and its largest opposition party, benefited from Jordan’s recent electoral reform, which allowed for a mixed proportional representation system in Jordan’s 138-seat parliament, allocating 41 seats for national political parties.
The 2022 electoral law aimed at elecotral reform divided the kingdom into 18 districts in which candidates compete for 97 seats. The other 41 seats are part of a national district in which candidates run under political parties, rather than as individuals. The law also stipulates that the national district's seats will increase in future elections, from 30% to 50% in the 2028 election to 65% in 2032.
Jordan’s king still holds ultimate power, with the ability to dissolve the parliament, appoint governments and oversee the country's foreign policy, and the balance of parliament in 2024 still favors tribal and pro-government factions.
