On 28 March 2007, King Abdullah II issued a royal decree dissolving parliament ahead of legislative elections to the House of Representatives. The Government subsequently set the date of elections as 20 November.
In the previous elections held in June 2003, supporters of the King reportedly won two-thirds of the 110 seats in the House of Representatives. The Islamic Action Front (IAF, political arm of the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood) won 17 seats.
The IAF boycotted the July 2007 municipal elections, alleging election fraud. In subsequent contacts with leaders of the IAF's centrist faction, Prime Minister Marouf al-Bakhit reportedly gave assurances that elections would be free and transparent, in return for a promise to remove extremists from the IAF electoral lists. However, the Prime Minister publicly rejected the IAF's demand to invite international observers, arguing that this would suggest that Jordanian electoral law was flawed.
In all, 880 candidates, including a record 199 women (up from 54 in the 2003 elections), contested the 2007 elections. The IAF fielded only 22 candidates (down from over 30 in 2003). Most female candidates ran as independents, promising to strive for womens basic rights including the freedom to work. The outgoing legislature had six women, who all were elected under reserved seats.
Most supporters of the King ran as independents. Many of them promised to improve economic conditions by fighting poverty and unemployment.
The media focused on the chances of the IAF winning more seats than in 2003. The party was seen to be losing ground. The IAF ran under the slogan, "Islam is the solution". It pledged to support people in Iraq and to amend the Constitution and the electoral law, without elaborating on the changes to be made. Its proposals on unemployment and poverty were reportedly similar to those of pro-monarchy candidates.
Support for Iraqi and Palestinian peoples was also a common theme among other opposition forces.
A total of 54 per cent of the 2.4 million registered voters turned out at the polls.
The final results gave a majority to parties and candidates allied to the King, while the IAF took only six seats. One woman was elected, in addition to the six seats reserved for women.
IAF leader Mr. Jamil Abu-Bakr alleged election fraud, including vote-buying, which the government denied. Following the elections, 17 people were arrested for tampering with the election process.
On 22 November, King Abdullah II named Mr. Nader Dahabi as the new Prime Minister and Minister of Defence. He subsequently formed a 28-member cabinet including four women, which was approved by a royal decree on 25 November.
On 2 December, the newly-elected House of Representatives held a preliminary session that re-elected Mr. Abdulhadi Al-Majali as its Speaker. In the meantime, on 29 November, King Abdullah II had appointed 55 senators, including seven women. Mr. Zaid Al-Rifai was re-appointed as Senate President by Royal Decree. King Abdullah II officially inaugurated the parliament on 3 December. |
A historical Archive of past election results for this chamber can be found on a separate page