“We could have expected a breakthrough by the Islamists, but not on this scale”

The Islamic Action Front, the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood and the main opposition party in Jordan, came out on top among political parties in the legislative elections on Tuesday, September 10, with 31 seats out of 41 reserved for parties. This is their best score since 1989. Why? Camille Abescat, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Sant’Anna in Pisa, explains.

RFI : What can we say about the score of the Islamic Action Front during these legislative elections? ?

Camille Abescat: First of all, it must be emphasized that it was a surprise. We could have expected a breakthrough for the Islamic Action Front in Parliament, but I don’t think anyone expected results of this magnitude. In fact, the party more than tripled its number of seats (compared to the last election, Editor’s note).

The first reason is really the modification of the electoral law. This time, it reserved 41 seats, out of 138, for political parties. And the Islamic Action Front being the only party whose partisan label represents a source of electoral mobilization, the party necessarily benefited from this reform.

And the second factor is the regional context. The war in Gaza and the ongoing genocide were absolutely central themes during the election campaign.

Knowing that half of the Jordanian population is of Palestinian origin ?

What consequences will this breakthrough by the Islamists have? ?

- RFI