Jordan Islamists suffer setback at polls, report violations

Nov 21, 2007, 6:57 GMT

Amman - The Islamic Action Front (IAF), Jordan's largest political party, suffered a major setback in parliamentary elections, according to preliminary results released early Wednesday.

The IAF, the political arm of the influential Muslim Brotherhood movement, won only 8 seats in Tuesday's vote compared with the 17 seats it clinched in the previous general elections in 2003.

The party, which has fielded 22 candidates in Amman and other major cities, accused the government of committing 'violations,' but did not provide any evidence.

'The government has colluded with election crimes and rigging practices' that included vote buying and adding false election cards to the ballot boxes in several constituencies, the IAF said in a statement.

The government denied the charges as 'baseless and lacking in evidence' and insisted that the polling process was conducted in a 'fair and transparent' manner.

However, the daily newspaper Alarab Alyawm said Wednesday that it had spotted a number of vote-buying incidents.

Interior Minister Eid al-Fayez conceded Tuesday that a number of people were arrested for committing violations, including vote buying.

Four other opposition parties, which fielded seven candidates in a unified list, failed to return any deputy in the new lower house of parliament.

Preliminary results showed that the vast majority of elected MP's were pro-government businessmen and independents who counted on tribal and factional affiliations and raised slogans promising economic benefits and services to voters in their respective constituencies.