Islamist Muslim Brotherhood Party Becomes The Largest Party In The Jordanian Parliament. They Cry Out “We Are All Hamas” And “Yahya Sinwar, Oppressors Of The Jews!”

The Islamic Action Front (IAF), Muslim Brotherhood connected party, is now the biggest party in the Jordanian party. They are pro-Hamas and have won huge support because of its rhetoric against Israel. Since around half of Jordan’s population is Palestinian, the IAF’s appeal to the Palestinian cause played a huge role in its electoral victory. These people are hardcore Islamists, crying out “we are all Hamas,” “Yahya Sinwar [who heads Hamas] is our leader” and “Yahya Sinwar, Oppressors of the Jews”.

Jordanian celebrations
“Lord Sinwar, the Oppressor of the jews”
لليهودي قامع…….. سيدي السنوار

According to CNN arabic numbers : https://t.co/clSEwJtwYp
The Islamic movement, represented by the “Islamic Action Front” (the political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood in… pic.twitter.com/fi0GbEJ9Bb

— Mo Ghaoui (@moghaoui) September 12, 2024

As we read in DW:

Before last week’s elections, Jordan’s most popular political party, the Islamic Action Front, regularly organized protests against Israel’s war in Gaza and recent incursions into the occupied West Bank.

During these, party supporters called out slogans like “we are all Hamas” and “Yahya Sinwar [who heads Hamas] is our leader.” Supporters of the Islamic Action Front, or IAF, also often demanded that Jordan scupper its long-running peace treaty with neighboring Israel, signed in 1994.

Perhaps, given the anger in Jordan about the civilian impact of Israel’s military campaign against the Hamas militant group in Gaza and the fact that around half of Jordan’s population has Palestinian roots, it should not have come as a surprise that the IAF did particularly well in Jordan’s parliamentary elections last week.

The IAF, a political party representing the interests of the Muslim Brotherhood group in the country, became the largest in the Jordanian parliament, winning 31 out of the 138 seats. The Muslim Brotherhood, which exists throughout the Middle East, is Jordan’s oldest and largest Islamist organization.

The election result was the Islamists’ best in 35 years. Observers say the IAF’s focus on the Gaza conflict was part of the reason for the success. But the party also managed to attract votes from other groups beyond its conservative Muslim base.

This is due partially to what Ahmad Sharawi, a research analyst at the conservative US-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies, describes as a “climate of disillusionment.”

Jordan is experiencing economic stagnation and higher unemployment while, at the same time, important sectors like tourism are badly impacted by the conflict next door in Israel. Voters don’t believe their political system can change much of that, as evidenced by a low turnout of 32% last week.

“The Islamists have won a reputation as the only political force able and willing to challenge the status quo and demand accountability from the government,” Sharawi wrote in a policy brief last week.

Although there is not much fear about this party destabilizing Jordan because the king, Abdullah II, is still the main holder of power:

Jordan is a constitutional monarchy and although there are elections, it is the country’s King Abdullah II who holds almost all political power.

Parliament has limited powers and the king chooses the country’s prime minister, senate and ministers.

There has been some movement towards political reform though, and this is part of the reason why the IAF was able to do so well last week. From 2022, every Jordanian election is supposed to allocate an increasing number of seats for political parties, rather than having voters focus on tribal or religious leaders, or ethnic representation.

In this election, 41 seats — or 30% — of the seats in parliament were allocated to political parties. In 2028, that rises to 50% and then in 2032, to 65% of seats. Should reforms go ahead, the IAF could come to dominate parliament.

At the moment though, there’s not much they can do other than potentially cause trouble in parliament by using political tools such as their right to summon ministers for questioning, Jordanian researcher Hassan Abu Haniya, an expert on local Islamist parties, told DW.

“We will certainly witness calls for a vote of no confidence and more questioning and calls for clarification,” Abu Haniya suggested.

“The IAF might seek to frustrate government efforts to pass some laws, for instance,” says Neil Quilliam, a research fellow and Middle East expert at British think tank, Chatham House. “But it would need to follow parliamentary protocol and, by doing so, show that it is a part of the formal government structure.”

This might be wishful thinking. There is immense hatred against the King of Jordan because of his friendly relations with Israel. In the 1970s the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) called for the overthrow of the King of Jordan and this led to massacres of Palestinian civilians. This may happen again.

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