JORDAN: Tensions rise in Jordan between government and Islamists in lead up to legislative elections

As Jordanian politicians prepare for parliamentary elections scheduled for November 20, the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, the country's most influential opposition group, faces increased pressures from the Jordanian government, members of the Islamic group say. Some analysts and politicians say the government fears the rising popularity of the Islamic Action Front (IAF), the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan, prompting it to curb political freedoms. IAF member and parliamentarian Azzam al-Huneidi said the level of tension between the Islamic movement and government has reached an unprecedented level after prime minister Marouif al-Bakheet stepped up the verbal war against IAF leaders earlier this month, accusing them of effectively wishing to overthrow the government. "The unjustified threats which unfortunately came from an official -- the prime minister -- indicate unpredictability and blatant extremism in his rhetoric that we have never seen before. This has only happened with the current prime minister, which goes to show the state of tension and the crisis the government is going through," al-Huneidi said. The prime minister accused the IAF of seeking to undermine the status quo and hinted that it and other groups wanted to turn Jordan into an al-Qaeda-inspired state. Independent analysts say the authorities fear the Islamists could make electoral gains similar to those made by their ideological ally Hamas in the Palestinian territories and Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood. Expert on Islamic political parties Marwan Shehadeh said the IAF's popularity is making the Jordanian government extremely uncomfortable. "The regime has started confining and targeting the movement because, according to their point of view, it (the IAF) has become a state within a state, as it has a lot of economic projects and huge investments, it has hospitals and financial support through the Islamic Centre. And this made the government confine, place restrictions on and intimidate the Muslim Brotherhood," Shehadeh said. The authorities fear the IAF, which calls for far-reaching reforms, will win votes because of popular disenchantment and a widespread belief that successive governments have failed to deliver on promises of reforms, leading to instability in the status quo. The IAF has also enjoyed vast popularity amongst Jordanians due to the group's wide social base and its strong anti-Israeli position in a country where most of the people are Palestinian refugees. In the previous assembly, the IAF held the largest bloc in parliament with 17 of 110 seats. Some Islamist opposition members have said they are considering boycotting the November elections because of what they see as discrimination against them by the government. The poll was called by Prime Minister al-Bakheet after King Abdullah issued a decree on August 19 dissolving the previous parliament, whose four-year term formally ended in April. Al-Bakheet said his cabinet decided to respond quickly to a constitutional clause that requires the government to set a date for elections soon. Conservative politicians had urged the monarch to delay the vote, fearing Islamist electoral gains, but the king did not use his constitutional right to do so. Under the constitution, most powers rest with Jordan's king, who appoints the government, approves legislation and can dissolve parliament. The last election was in June 2003. Analysts say the government clamp down on the Islamists has included steps controlling the Muslim Brotherhood's charities, preventing them from holding public gatherings, and amendments to election laws to limit their chances of gaining seats within the parliament. "There have been a lot of practices over the years, over more than ten years, laws and legislation, placed by the government to confine the expansion of the movement and to weaken the Muslim Brotherhood within Jordan. These include (introducing) the one-vote law and the law regulating preaching and religious sermons, and controlling and dissolving the Islamic Centre which is the financial pillar of the Muslim Brotherhood," Shehadeh said. Jordan's lower house of parliament passed the single vote election law, which limits voters to one vote each, in 1997 despite vocal opposition from Islamist deputies. Political analysts said the law was aimed at weakening the representation of Islamists in parliament by preventing them from gaining many votes in large constituencies. Previously, voters had as many votes as there were seats in a constituency -- up to nine each in the largest constituencies. Officials said the IAF capitalised on the multi-vote system to mobilise support in the larger constituencies. IAF members said the one-person one-vote law covering the elections themselves would favour pro-government, tribal candidates. Yet according to Jordanian government spokesman Nasser Joudeh there is no crisis between the U.S-allied government and the Islamists, as all political parties are governed by Jordanian laws and the constitution. Speaking at a recent press conference, he warned, however, that threatening the country's security was a "red line" the authorities would not tolerate, in a thinly veiled threat to Islamists. "Our position is clear. National security is a red line, military and security apparatuses are a red line and above all that the governmental institution is a red line. There are guidelines all those who work in Jordan's political arena should abide by," Joudeh said. But Islamists say escalating government measures to ban the mainstream Islamists could only help the rise of al-Qaeda-style radicals. "We support the security and stability of this country, but to allow security concerns to dictate all actions does not serve the security or interests of the country," al-Huneidi said. He added: "If government policies remain as they are, they will of course lead to extremism and the situation will get out of hand, God forbid." The standoff between the Islamists and the regime in Jordan is relatively new. In the 1950's, the Muslim Brotherhood supported the monarchy against the leftists and pan-Arabists opposed to it, and in that decade as well as the 1960's and 1970's, the group was the only quasi-political movement allowed to legally operate in the kingdom.

ITN Source | August 28, 2007

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