Democratic Palestine : 36 (ص 27)
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- عنوان
- Democratic Palestine : 36 (ص 27)
- المحتوى
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leveled at Zaid Rifai three days earlier
in the Salt district.
The most dramatic of the preemp-
tive measures was the arbitrary arrest
of 12 political activists on October 4th
and 5th - ten days before the beginning
of the election campaign. They were
accused of membership in the PFLP,
and of providing aid to the PFLP’s
attack on Israeli targets across the Jor-
danian borders. It is worth mentioning
that none of the twelve detainees are
military cadre; all of them had only
recently been released from detention.
Needless to say, these arrests aimed at
depriving them of participating in the
election campaign.
Another political activist was
arrested on November Ist - one week
before the election. Another was
arrested on November 6th, as he was
returning home from an election rally
in Amman. As of yet, no charges have
been pressed against them. On
November 8th, the day of the election,
four people were arrested in Al Baqa’a
camp with no charges, and the interior
minister denied knowledge of their
arrest. There are reports of many
others who are still sought by the intel-
ligence. Their homes and their families
were ordered to hand them over to the
authorities.
The Campaign
Political parties have been banned in
Jordan since 1957; accordingly, parag-
raph E of article 18 of the election law
prohibits citizens affiliated to political
parties from running for parliament.
However, on October 17th, the gov-
ernment announced that it would not
enforce the ban for this election, as
part of the regime’s attempt to give the
election a democratic facade. Despite
intentions, this contributed to increas-
ing the masses’ enthusiasm to get as
many as possible of their true rep-
resentative into the parliament. Out of
662 applicants, 652 candidates were
accepted; seven were rejected for legal
reasons and three withdrew later. The
parliament has 80 seats, and they are
alloted by sect. Out of 652, there were
Democratic Paiestine, December 1989
574 Muslims competing for 68 seats, 63
Christians competing for nine seats,
and 15 Circassians competing for three
seats. Among them were 12 women,
who gained the right to run in a
nation-wide election in 1974 but were
exercising this for the first time, since
no elections have been held since 1967.
On the other hand, for the first time
since 1950, citizens of the West Bank
neither voted, nor had candidates in
the Jordanian elections.
A broad range of _ candidates
demanded an end to martial law,
legalization of political parties, amend-
ment of the elction law, and greater
democratic freedoms: freedom of the
press, and of movement and to form
trade unions. On the economic level,
many called for developing an inde-
pendent national economy, fighting
unemployment, and prosecuting offi-
cials responsible for the drop in the
dinar’s value and the price hikes that
eventually led to the April revolt. On
the international level, some candi-
dates demanded _ confronting — the
imperialist schemes in the area, and
not submitting to the conditions of the
IMF and other world capitalist centers;
they called for more cooperation with
the socialist countries. Support for the
Palestinian uprising was unanimously
voiced by all candidates.
The Islamic movement, headed by
the fundamentalist Muslim Brother-
hood, was well organized and highly
motivated in this election. In addition
to the slogans above, they raised
others such as «Islam is the solution»,
as well as their infamous antagonism
towards socialism and women. As a
solution to unemployment, the Muslim
Brotherhood called for barring women
from the work force.
The dispute between the Islamic
movement and the women candidates
and other pro-women’s rights candi-
dates was highlighted when the former
filed a court case against Toujan Fai-
sal, one of the 12 women running for
offices, charging her with apostacy.
Later the court dissmissed the charge.
The above-mentioned measures
taken by the regime make it clear that
this election could not have marked a
radical departure from the prevailing
system, regardless of who won seats in
the parliament. However, even within
these confines, the election campaign
gave an unprecedental occasion for
public debate. The results give a rela-
tively representative gage of public
opinion to be carefully studied by all
those forces aspiring to mobilize the
mases for genuine national democratic
change. This is the case because the
elections themselves actually pro-
ceeded in a democratic manner. The
surprise was that although 16,000 sec-
urity men were deployed throughout
the country, they did not interfere with
the citizens’ voting; nor was there fal-
sification of ballots.
Results
Fundamentalist Islamic forces,
mainly the Muslim Brotherhood, won
32 seats - almost half the parliament.
Leftist and nationalist candidates won
16 seats. Nine former ministers and
MPs won seats in this parliament. Of
the remaining seats, the majority were
won by the young educated elite which
is replacing the traditional figures of
the past Most of them can be assumed
to be loyal to the regime, although
there are also a number of indepen-
dents whose positions are as _ yet
unclear.
Though the outcome is disappointing
for the national democratic forces, it is
far from a surprise. Besides being the
largest single organized group in Jor-
dan, the Muslim Brotherhood is the
only organized force that has been
allowed to operate all these years. It
has built up a mass base chiefly via the
religious institutions, spreading its
thinking through the mosques, etc.
Moreover, it is a cohesive, internally
united force. In these elections, it
fielded more candidates and conducted
a more high-powered campaign than
any other force.
In contrast, the leftist and nationalist
forces have been the main target of the
regime’s repression over the years,
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