Jordanians vote for newly empowered parliament

AMMAN, Jordan (AP) ? Jordanians voted Wednesday in a first electoral test for their king's political reforms, while a boycott from his Islamist-led opponents cast doubt over whether the vote would quell two years of simmering dissent in the streets.

As part of a reform package that aims to make the elected legislature responsible for much of the day-to-day affairs of state, King Abdullah II has given the parliament the right to choose the prime minister, previously appointed by the crown. Broader foreign and security policy remains however, for now at least, in the hands of the king.

The 2011 Arab Spring uprisings in the region set off a wave of demonstrations in Jordan, albeit much smaller than those that toppled autocratic leaders in Egypt, Libya, Yemen and Tunisia and devolved into a bloody civil war in Syria. Abdullah is trying to control the pace of change.

Just over 600,000 Jordanians, or 27.5 percent of the 2.3 million who registered to vote, cast ballots in the first seven hours of voting, despite early technical computer problems with the balloting, elections commission head Abdul-Illah Khatib said.

David Martin, the European Union Chief Election Observer, said voting got off to a relatively smooth start, with only one or two insignificant violations of rules due to campaigning outside polling stations, and "no intimidation or harassment of voters." EU observers are stationed in all of Jordan's 12 governorates, he said.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour, Jordan's last appointed premier who is expected to tender his resignation to the king shortly after the vote, called it a "stepping stone, or a station, on the path of more vigorous, serious, real and genuine reforms."

"More democracy is coming," he told reporters as he cast his ballot in his northwestern hometown of Salt.

But government critics, led by the powerful Muslim Brotherhood, say the king's moves do not go far or fast enough to end his monopoly on power.

The Islamist group is boycotting the vote, as are four smaller parties, including communists and Arab nationalists, on grounds that an electoral law introduced last year favored pro-king loyalists and undercut opposition votes.

The Islamists' frustration is growing because the Brotherhood has not been able to rally a large sector of the public to their side. Though there is anger over the economy, rising prices and corruption, many Jordanians also distrust the Brotherhood, eyeing its rise in Egypt and fearing it could grab power in Jordan and throw it into instability.

"The parliament being elected has no color or taste in the absence of the opposition," said Zaki Bani Irsheid, a leading member of the Islamic Action Front, the Brotherhood's political arm. A statement by the Brotherhood's youth wing described the elections as a "funeral for our national democracy."

Julien Barnes-Darcy, a Jordan analyst at the European Council of Foreign Relations, said the elections fall short of the king's initial promises to the public.

"There has been a sense that the reforms haven't gone deep enough. There hasn't been enough of an attempt to really draw in all the different parties, both supporters and opponents of the status quo," he said.

"For that reason, the elections appear to many as much of a missed opportunity as anything else ... They are neither the concluding moment of a period of reform, nor are they a launch pad for more serious change."

"It really leaves the country in a bit of a standstill and at a problematic moment," he added.

At an Amman polling station, housewife Basma Edwan, 32, cast her vote with a beaming smile, calling the election a "national wedding... with the bride being the new parliament." Outside however, convenience store cashier Mohammed Abu-Summaqa, 21, said he would not be voting.

"Deputies will not be able to do anything for us because they are controlled by the king and Cabinet, so why should I vote?" he asked.

Madallah Hamid, a 50-year-old government employee, said he was voting because he trusted the king's liberalization moves.

"You don't just press a button and suddenly you have reform and democracy," Hamid said as he rubbed purple ink on his index finger, used to mark those who have already voted. "It's a process and I have confidence in the king's approach."

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Associated Press Writers Dale Gavlak in Amman, Jordan, Mohammad Hannon in Salt, Jordan, contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/jordanians-vote-newly-empowered-parliament-092228943.html

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