Jordan's Election: Could Islamists Reshape the Political Landscape?

Jordan's main opposition, the Islamic Action Front (IAF), anticipates winning significant seats in the upcoming election, driven by widespread anger over the Gaza war. This could challenge the current pro-Western stance and impact Jordan's economic policies and relationship with Israel. The IAF's participation is expected to influence parliament significantly.

Jordan's main opposition, buoyed by anger over the Gaza war, says it expects its Islamists to win enough seats in Tuesday's election to loudly challenge the country's pro-Western stance, a result that could stir up the kingdom's staid political scene.

The opposition Islamic Action Front (IAF), the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, says its voice is needed in the assembly to help reverse unpopular economic policies, stand up to laws curbing public freedoms and oppose further normalisation with Israel, with which Jordan has a 1994 peace treaty. "It's enough that there is a significant bloc that is able to influence public opinion and the general political scene," Murad Adailah, the head of Jordan's Muslim Brotherhood and an ideological ally of the Palestinian group Hamas, told Reuters.

In a country where anti-Israel sentiment runs high, the Gaza war is expected to help the electoral fortunes of the IAF, which is Jordan's largest opposition party and has led some of the region's biggest rallies backing Hamas. Hundreds took to the streets of Amman to celebrate on Sunday, hours after a gunman from Jordan shot dead three Israeli civilians at a border crossing in the occupied West Bank.

(With inputs from agencies.)