Jordanian 2024 elections: Muslim Brotherhood triumphs - analysis

The Islamic Action Front, the political party representing the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan, is the main winner of the elections held in the kingdom on Wednesday, winning 31 out of the 138 seats in the country’s House of Representatives – with over 500,000 votes. This is a striking achievement for Islamists, who view themselves as an opposition party. They received 10 seats in 2020 and decided in past elections to boycott the political process altogether.

The recent elections took place following a voting mechanism reform, which for the first time allowed voters to choose their elected officials through two notes – one for their local representatives – who competed for 97 of the 138 seats – and the other for the national district comprising the remaining 41 seats. According to Jordanian reports, 36 registered parties ran on the national level, while only two ran for the local one. The Islamic Action Front’s achievement was divided between 17 seats on the national and 14 seats on the local.

Additionally, 27 women were elected to parliament. It’s important to note that  the country has a minimum quota of 18 women in the House of Representatives. These elections also changed was the minimum age for candidates, which was lowered from 30 in past elections to 25 this year.

The national-oriented Al-Mithaq Al-Watani (‘The National Charter’) party won a notable 21 seats, and the left-leaning Taqaddum (‘Progress’) party won eight seats. The rest were distributed mainly among independent candidates or smaller parties.

Al-Jazeera praised the achievement of the Islamist party, stressing its staunch support for Hamas, the Gaza branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, since October 7. The Qatari channel also stated that the new parliament will have to deal with a “threat to deport Palestinians to Jordan.”

Voter turnout saw 1.6 million out of an estimated 5.1 million voters, which symbolizes a low turnout of around 32%, despite being higher than the past 2020 elections, which saw a turnout of 29%.

Media praises Islamist achievements and kingdom’s democracy

On Jordanian national television, analysts lauded the election process and outcomes as proof that the Jordanian people stand with 'Palestine', and further said that the elections are proof of the strong democracy in the kingdom.

The House of Representatives is the lower house of the country’s legislative branch. The upper house, the Senate, is composed of 65 delegates, all appointed by a royal decree, like in the executive branch. This grants the King absolute control of the legislative process, as any piece of legislation that passes in parliament must also be ratified by those appointed by him – and by himself as well.

Ever since their coalescing as a political party in the early 1990s, Islamists in Jordan have been at the forefront of opposition to the peace process with Israel, leading protests and using their influence to act against the peace accords and normalization. Despite this, they have been consistently careful to point their criticism mainly at the Jordanian government rather than at the Hashemite family, which is still considered a taboo in the kingdom.