Setback for women candidates as Jordan election delivers plenty of surprises

Initial election results unveiled yesterday revealed that Jordanians elected 100 new MPs, the day after a record-low turnout across the country.

Incumbents, political parties and businessmen suffered heavy losses, with numbers showing Jordanians elected a new parliament mainly comprising tribal and independent candidates, and only 30 out of 130 MPs returning.

Amid Covid- 19 fears and general frustration with parliament itself, the elections attracted a 29.9 per cent turnout in which 1.38 million Jordanians cast ballots – the lowest turnout for a parliamentary election in Jordan’s history.

Former ministers and wellknown political figures also lost in the polls, reflecting a desire for change but a lack of appetite for political parties.

According to initial results released yesterday afternoon, only 16 per cent of incoming MPs will be members of political parties, one of the smallest political party representations since the end of martial law and the resumption of political life in the kingdom in 1989.

Among the biggest losers was the Islah coalition of Islamists, nationalists, independents and minorities backed by the Muslim Brotherhood. The list lost nine seats, to find its representation reduced from 15 seats to a mere six MPs in the incoming parliament.

Despite a record 364 female candidates, women also lost big in this election.

For the first time in a decade, not a single woman won a seat outside the 15-seat quota, compared with 2016, when five women won in direct competition.

Women’s representation in the Jordanian parliament has now dropped from 15.3 per cent to 11.5 per cent. Women’s rights activists attributed the drop to a 2016 electoral law that they say places women and non-tribal candidates at a disadvantage.

Leftists and nationalists also suffered a drubbing, with the nationalist-leftist coalition list failing to win a single seat in parliament.

The party with the best turnout was the Islamic Centrist Party, a grouping of religiously conservative MPs that are supportive of the government’s agenda and the palace, which secured between six to eight seats according to the initial results.

Despite a nationwide lockdown going into effect at 11pm, celebrations by candidates and dozens of their supporters outside the capital continued late into the night, crowding the main streets well into the early morning.

Later yesterday, the brazen celebrations continued, with candidates hosting large gatherings of hundreds in both southern and northern Jordan, despite a full lockdown that kept the vast majority of citizens in their homes.

Others reportedly formed motorcades and honked their horns in celebration in the towns of Irbid, Mafraq and Maan. Video footage of the celebrations triggered outrage and condemnation by Jordanians stuck in their homes and observing the four-day full curfew, which is to last until Sunday morning.

The celebrations – which the national lockdown aimed to prevent – came as Jordan continued to grapple with its worst Covid- 19 surge and among the highest daily caseload in the region, reporting a record 91 deaths and 5,996 cases on Tuesday evening.

Among the biggest losers was the Islah coalition of Islamists, nationalists, independents and minorities