AMMAN: Jordan’s Islamists said yesterday they plan to boycott early polls expected this year over a “provocative” new electoral law, as analysts warned against an “official rigging” of the process.
A day after MPs endorsed the law, the Muslim Brotherhood said it was “in touch with centrist political parties and other groups to form a ‘shadow government’ and "shadow Parliament," which means a definite boycott of the general elections.” “We expect many to boycott the polls. Those who bet on the participation of the Islamist movement in the vote are wrong and delusional,” Zaki Bani Rsheid, deputy leader of the powerful Brotherhood, told AFP.
The new law increases the number of parliamentary seats to 140 from 120, including an expanded quota for women to 15 from 12. It will go into effect after King Abdallah approves it, giving voters the right to cast two ballots: One for individual candidates in their governorates and one for parties or coalitions nationwide.
But only 17 seats can be contested by party and coalition candidates.
“This is retarded and provocative... it will not produce representative lower house deputies. It does not honor those who have been demonstrating for reform since last year. It will kill political life,” Bani Rsheid said. According to the constitution, elections take place every four years, but Jordan held early polls in 2010 after the king dissolved Parliament.
The Islamists boycotted those elections in protest at constituency boundaries, saying they over-represented loyalist rural areas at the expense of urban areas seen as Islamist strongholds.
“Under this law, the elections will turn into a crisis, instead of a solution,” Bani Rsheid warned.The king is pushing to hold crucial elections before the end of 2012 as Jordanians have held relatively small but persistent Arab Spring-inspired demonstrations almost every week since last year to demand sweeping reforms.
“(The) focus should be on the participation of all powers in the parliamentary political process,” King Abdallah told the London-based Al-Hayat daily in an interview published yesterday.
“The coming elections will be a test of intentions and plans,” said the monarch.
He added that the Islamists’ position on reforms “has become dictated by subjective considerations and regional inputs. This is the political reality in the region.”
Jordan’s Islamists term new electoral law provocative, threaten boycott
