Rigged elections everywhere!
"Jordan, Fearing Islamists, Tightens Grip on Elections" by THANASSIS CAMBANIS
AMMAN, Jordan, Nov. 9 — This month’s legislative elections were supposed to be a watershed in this pro-American kingdom’s slow but committed march to democratic change.
But Hamas’s rise to power in the Palestinian Authority and its violent takeover of Gaza in June have cast a heavy shadow over politics in Jordan, where a Hashemite monarch maintains a tight, authoritarian grip on a restive Palestinian majority and an activist Islamic opposition.
As a result, the government has dropped plans to change its byzantine electoral law, prohibited some critics from seeking office and threatened to bar independent observers from the polls. And, with less than two weeks before the Nov. 20 vote, opposition candidates are accusing the government of rampant voter fraud.
Feels like home to me! I'm American!
The slowdown in democratization has further alienated Jordan’s only significant opposition party, the Muslim Brotherhood’s Islamic Action Front, which commands deep support in urban areas, especially among Jordanians of Palestinian origin. The party has put forward 22 candidates, even fewer than it did in 2003, saying they would not stand a chance against the widespread government fraud it expects.
Another backslide on Georgie's rhetorical goals, 'eh?
The Islamic Action Front boycotted municipal elections in July amid charges that the government was busing soldiers to districts and ordering them to vote for pro-government candidates. Though some in the party say it would be better to participate in the coming elections, even if the voting is compromised, Zaki Bani Rsheid, the secretary general, argued for another boycott.
Mr. Bani Rsheid contends that in a completely open election, Islamists would win a plurality of votes and the right to form a government. (In the last parliamentary election in 2003, the Islamic Action Front won 17 of 110 seats.)
Mr. Bani Rsheid fumed this week:
“We gave the government legitimacy and got nothing in return. The election will not be fair.”
Yeah, we fuck 'em politically, then charge 'em with being a bunch of hot-headed terrorists!
Great scam you got going, guys!
Islamists in Jordan have been given greater latitude to take part in political life than in most Arab countries, but Mr. Bani Rsheid says the government insists on “no reform, no political change, no democracy,” because “they are looking at what happened to Hamas.”
Yeah, USrael is killing it!
Independent Jordanian groups have trained thousands of monitors and have been tracking the campaign for illegalities, but they have been in a protracted fight with the government over access to polling stations.
Already, candidates have charged that the government has illegally shifted the registrations of tens of thousands of voters to provinces where pro-government candidates need more votes. The government has denied the accusations but has refused to open the registration rolls to scrutiny.
The Muslim Brotherhood’s party has done little to temper fears spurred by the Gaza takeover. A former secretary general of the Islamic Action Front, Hamza Mansour, is running a firebrand campaign with language almost identical to that of Hamas.
Mr. Mansour, a Palestinian whose family came to Jordan from Haifa, said Tuesday:
“We must not give up the resistance. We must never give up the right of return. We must condemn the embargo of Gaza!”
Yeah, what a radical, calling for the end of the siege of Gaza!
I am so sick of Zionist-controlled garbage in my newspapers!
