Jordanians head to the polls, but Muslim Brotherhood stays away
The Islamist group decided to boycott Jordan's first parliamentary elections since the Arab Spring, but Jordanians still made their way to polling stations on Wednesday.
A Jordanian woman inks her finger after casting to ballot inside a polling station in Amman, Jordan, Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2013.
Mohammad Hannon/AP
Amman
Jordanians voted in their first parliamentary elections since the Arab Spring revolts on Wednesday, but a boycott by the main Islamist party guaranteed there would be no repeat of an Egypt-style revolution via the ballot box.
The popular Muslim Brotherhood shunned the poll saying the electoral system had been rigged against large, populated urban areas where it is strongest in favour of rural tribal areas where conservative, pro-government forces are entrenched.
Turnout was 47 percent by around 1500 GMT, officials said, but Islamists accused the authorities of trying to inflate low turnout to disguise the impact of their boycott. Official results were expected on Thursday.
The Brotherhood's boycott has reduced the election to a contest between tribal leaders, establishment figures and businessmen, with just a few of the 1,500 candidates running for recognized parties. Allegations of vote-buying are rife.
"God willing these elections will produce a good parliament that will consider the needs of the citizens. We hope this parliament will be better than the previous one," said Iskandar Nuqul, a voter in Amman's first electoral district.
Jordan, a US-backed monarchy bordering Israel, has seen large protests against corruption and criticizing King Abdullah, though not on the scale of those that toppled rulers in Egypt and Tunisia and led to civil wars in Libya and Syria.
