How Gaza shaped Jordan’s election & delivered the Muslim Brotherhood's landslide win

The Muslim Brotherhood's unprecedented success in Jordan's parliamentary elections on 10 September didn't just confirm the strength of Jordanians' support for Palestine and their staunch backing of the resistance; it was also a stinging rebuke to the state's accommodation of US policies and complete lack of a vision when it comes to the threat Israel poses.

The Islamic Action Front (IAF), the political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan, won 31 seats (out of 138) – more than quadrupling the number they held previously, making it the biggest opposition bloc in parliament.

The IAF, founded in 1992, is the largest and most influential opposition party in Jordanian politics. However, the recent election results showed clearly that the IAF vote extended far beyond the group's usual urban, conservative support base, and notably into tribal areas. This indicates that the noticeable rise in support for them was not primarily motivated by religion, but by support for the Palestinian resistance, with the Brotherhood having been at the forefront of the pro-Gaza movement.

Gaza as the litmus test

Both before and during the elections, the Muslim Brotherhood's solidarity with Palestinian resistance was very visible. IAF MP Yanal al-Fraihat, for example, even designed his election posters incorporating an inverted triangle, symbolising the red triangle used by the Qassam Brigades in their videos. IAF members also paid their respects to the family of Maher al-Jazi, the lorry driver who shot dead three Israeli border guards in Jordan on 8 September, the day before the elections.

Not to mention, the political party has held a strong anti-normalisation with Israel stance.

These were all actions that strongly resonated with many Jordanians who clearly sought to vote for those who have expressed equal outrage over the continuing genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza, as well as the growing settler onslaught in the occupied West Bank. 

Meanwhile, over the last year, no attention was given by the authorities and those with any influence in Jordan, to the deep impact the war on Gaza was having on the public, nor the fact that Jordanians were scared of Israel's threat to the kingdom.

The Jordanian people's passionate engagement with the genocide that has been taking place for almost a year now, was largely overlooked despite all the signs. That many Jordanians were being inspired by Palestinian resistance was also clearly underestimated, despite the overwhelming jubilation following Maher al-Jazi's drastic actions.

Al-Jaza was celebrated with pride when he killed the Israeli border guards, especially by the Huwaitat tribe to which he belonged, as this was seen as a refusal to be subjugated to Israel. 

Repression

Rather than the state harnessing the anger among ordinary Jordanians to fortify its position against US and Israeli pressures, it chose to launch a spate of arrests (including of the much admired satirical writer Ahmad Hassan al-Zoubi) and intimidate opposition parties and activists.

In effect, Jordan's powerful factions, and those behind them in the Royal Committee to Modernize the Political System (that was set up in 2021 by the Jordanian kingdom to redraw Jordan's political landscape, and supposedly encourage a more democratic multiparty system), missed the implications of sidelining Palestinians, and ignoring growing fears amongst the people that efforts were underway to eliminate the Palestinian cause.

Instead, energy was directed towards containing the influence of the Muslim Brotherhood.

A "new parties law" which was introduced in line with the royal committee's recommendations, was used by various state factions and former officials – conservative, liberal and purely opportunistic –to establish political parties to secure or bolster their presence.

One of the state's unsaid goals with this law was also to marginalise the Brotherhood, represented by the Islamic Action Front (IAF), and the opposition.

[The authorities' preoccupation with sidelining the Muslim Brotherhood  stems back to the Arab Spring, when many regimes in the region hardened their stance towards the Brotherhood due to perceiving it as a driver of the protests and main critic of the status quo. Whilst Jordan did not ban the Brotherhood, as other states did, "election engineering" was carried out to undermine their support. Harassment – including through arrests - was also used against their candidates - translator's note].

All of this has been taking place against the backdrop of a wider growing crackdown on freedoms, including through the deeply repressive new cybercrime law.

Ironically, alongside the added public anger over ongoing normalisation with Israel, the Brotherhood saw a surge in support from the people which was most visible in their recent electoral victory.

The decline of other opposition parties 

Jordan's Social Democratic party  also saw a dramatic drop in votes amidst mass anger towards Israel. Whilst traditionally the Party finds support in Amman's second circle - a relatively affluent area associated with middle class professionals and intellectuals, this election saw the lowest voter turnout (11%) from their base – strongly signalling a loss of confidence. 

It seems that even the more well-off parts of society are fearful of decision-makers' seeming obliviousness when it comes to the ramifications that Israel's violence could have on Jordan.

Former state officials also now view the Palestinian resistance as a bulwark protecting Jordan from Israel. They are frustrated that decision-makers don’t sense the scale of the threat of looming Israeli expansion, nor are they acting to ease the anger of the public.

As for the Left, their failure to win even a single parliamentary seat (despite left-wing parties' longstanding unwavering support for the Palestinian struggle), can be explained by the state's intensified harassment and threats as its agencies have attempted to crush them entirely. Their candidate, Haidar Al-Zaban, faced a barrage of these attacks.

Another big mistake when it comes to the Left in Jordan, was their failure to form a broad coalition with the nationalist and smaller parties that are led by young people who share many of the same views on various issues. Certain sections prioritised their own narrow demands over broader unity, and in the end paid for it.

Ultimately, the results of the recent elections are both significant and in many ways, have served as a warning about the real issues plaguing Jordan's future.

If, what some believe is true - that the palace prevented any intervention in the electoral process after realising the Muslim Brotherhood was going to do well, in order to use it as leverage to confront US pressures – then there’s already been a considerable shift. However, even if this is just a tactical move, the palace must be serious about using the anger of the Jordanian people against Israel.

Furthermore, the results have shown that attempting to engineer a multiparty system is an unwise idea. After all, the credibility of attempting to shape the political landscape has clearly been lost. Indeed, in order to establish political pluralism, civil and political freedoms must first be established, and the persecution of activists, as well as the use of intimidation to stop people from joining independent opposition parties, needs to end.

Freedom of expression and other political freedoms must be guaranteed.  

Lamis Andoni is a Palestinian journalist, writer and academic who launched The New Arab as its editor-in-chief.

This is an edited and abridged translation from our Arabic edition. To read the original article click here.

Translated by Rose Chacko

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Opinions expressed in this article remain those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The New Arab, its editorial board or staff, or the author's employer.