Monday, November 19, 2007
With less than 24 hours remaining to kick-off the Jordanian parliamentary elections, which will certainly wittness some hard kicking, it is useful to see what does the "highly-informed" international media has to say about the massive elections.
The Voice of America Radio does not expect a lot of surprises, and according to Challiss McDonough reporting from Cairo correctly states that there is a lack of excitment in the campaign. The report is balanced with citations fropm both Islamists and seculars who share the criticism to the electoral system. The Islamists again raise their concern of a potential fraud, nothing new.
Our friend Boroz Daragahi, the lousy reporter from LA Times who has predicted the collapse of the Jordanian regime last year get his nose stuck again but this time with a better researched and documented feature. He reflects the opinion of political analyst Labib Qamhawi who is a very well educated analyst. However, our fascinating reporters goes on saying "Jordan's electoral districts are mapped to give pro-government tribal areas in the countryside a far greater proportion of seats than those in urban enclaves such as Amman and Zarqa, where both Islamic and secular government opposition candidates draw support.". I will not say anything now, but after 48 hours when the results of the educated urban voting show the success of car dealers, sport club presidents, construction material dealers and contractors I will be laughing at the "political education" of urban Jordan!
Reuters reporter from Amman Suleiman Khalidi provides a nice portrait of the overall situation. However, he also continues to promote the urban-rural dichotomy in the elections law. He also quotes the president of Wehdat Club and wealthy businessman but describe shim as "liberal" for no apparnet reason except that he is not islamist. He also quotes Salem Falahat the head of the Muslim Brotherhood who says: "If we boycotted the elections we would have gained popularity but we have a national duty not to leave the arena to those who want to corrupt political life".
Abdul Jalil Mustafa reports for the Saudi based Arab News were he reflects the opinions of the civil society coordination committee and another IAF statement from 3rd district candidate Rhayyel Gharaibeh.
Mark Mackinnon writes for the Globe and Mail where he criticises Jordan 'slow crawl" towards democracy since 1989 but falls victim to the misconception of the presumed "support for isalmists and liberals" in the cities where again, businessmen are the actual frontrunners. Interesting in this feature is a quotation from an IAF supporter who hopes "an Islamic takeover will happen in Jotrdan". More interesting is a quote from a head of a civil society organization who says: "We need to go down the road to more freedoms, but we need to go slowly. If we had the same system as Canada tomorrow, the country would collapse." Talk about trust in the stability of the state?
More to come soon.
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While I agree with you that urban amman is not more politically liberal than the rest of the country (the election results only affirm this position) I simultaneously think that you irrationally dismissed the position that the unequal distribution of districts in Jordan undermines the cities where the IAF is popular. It is a fact, not an opinion as you have indicated, that the IAF tends to be most popular in the cities of Amman and Zarqa, and it is also a fact that both these cities are underrepresented in parliament.
The reasons for the IAF’s popularity is a different issue. The popularity of the IAF in urban areas does not mean that people there are necessarily more religious. Indeed, rural and tribal areas are by all accounts more conservative than the cities. If a strong rival political party is to emerge, with left-wing liberal leanings, it is safe to assume that the majority of its supporters would also come from the cities, Amman and Irbid as well as Zarqa. As such, the unequal distribution of districts not only undermines the IAF, but it also undermines the possibility of a strong political rival to the IAF.
Thank you for your continous efforts!