Fewer voters participated in the elections than in almost any Jordanian election in recent history. Only 1.5 million Jordanians turned up at the polls — about 36.1 percent of all registered voters — a marked decline from the 56 percent turnout in the 2013 elections. (In fact, the number of eligible voters in the country has increased substantially since 2013.) This is a concern for the government, which will try to spin the numbers as best it can. The drop in participation clearly indicates that Jordanians are unconvinced that parliament is capable of enacting meaningful reform. Low voter turnout aside, the results from all of Jordan's 23 districts have been nearly finalized, and additional details will trickle in over the coming days.
One of the biggest questions entering the elections was whether the reformed Muslim Brotherhood could still muster popular support. A positive showing for the group would demonstrate its resilience after a period of fracturing and turmoil. Though the group had high hopes going into the polls (an official from the group's political wing, the Islamic Action Front, confidently claimed that it expected to win up to 20 seats), the actual outcome was a little disappointing. Only 15 official seats went to the group, about 11 percent of the parliament. Three of those seats went to women, who overall had a good showing in the elections, winning five seats over their allotted quota. Candidates affiliated with the younger, Islamist Zamzam Initiative also accrued five seats.
The Muslim Brotherhood has long had conservative appeal, so it is no surprise that it would command popular support. But because the group has not participated in elections in seven years — having boycotted them in 2010 and 2013 — this year's vote is an important gauge of its popularity in Jordan. The Muslim Brotherhood was founded on a radical desire to rebuild the government from a foundation rooted in Islamic law. This conflicts with the vision of many relatively secular Middle Eastern governments that recognize and protect Islam as a dominant religion in society but do not think it should displace the governmental status quo.
Jordan's parliamentary elections show the delicate balance that the country's government and the Muslim Brotherhood are trying to strike. The Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood has tried to avoid the fate of its Egyptian counterpart (and founding organization), which drew the ire of the Egyptian state after it assumed executive control in 2012. Jordan's government has worked to curtail the actions of the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood for decades, especially since the group won 27 percent of parliamentary seats in 1989 general elections. The efforts to limit the organization intensified after the Arab Spring, when Islamist groups throughout the region were empowered to demand a greater political voice. Jordan outlawed the group this year but allowed the Islamic Action Front to live on. In a sense, the Sept. 20 elections were a small victory for the government and the Muslim Brotherhood alike, illustrating that coexistence is possible, even if tension remains.
Still, the low voter participation rate shows how disillusioned Jordanians are with the government, regardless of party. No one expects the newly elected 18th Parliament to enact true change or to push against the executive's decisions. But the burden of the economic and demographic problems facing Jordan is heavy, and there is tough work ahead for the parliament, with or without the population's support.
