Jordan’s parliament took legal measures on Monday to disqualify the Muslim Brotherhood’s political party, the country’s largest opposition movement.
In a Lower House session, 46 out of 83 Jordanian lawmakers voted to add an item in the country’s draft political parties law forbidding the establishment of any political party on a “religious basis.”
The measure would disqualify the Islamic Action Front – the political branch of the Muslim Brotherhood and the country’s largest political party – from taking part in upcoming parliamentary elections.
Islamists claim the amendment comes as “retaliation” for the Muslim Brotherhood’s opposition to a proposed elections law observers say ensures the continued dominance of tribal regime loyalists over the legislative chamber.
“This is only the latest in a series of measures by deputies to limit the influence of political parties and any dissenting views in parliament and political life in general,” Zaki Bani Rsheid, head of the IAF’s politibureau, told DPA.
“We believe all Jordanian citizens – not only Islamists – should have the right to form a political party without conditions,” he added.
Bani Rsheid vowed that Islamists would fight the legislation, which lawmakers are expected to approve on Tuesday, “with all legal and political means available.”
The country’s political parties law, which along with the elections law has been highlighted by Jordan’s King Abdullah II as key to the country’s reform process, also bans the establishment of parties on an “ethnic or sectarian basis.”
Abduallah is playing a Saturday Night Life comedy.
He banned the Islamic Action Front Party, an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, and NOT the Muslim Brotherhood, who still enjoy their own profiting hospitals, private universities, private schools, real estate investment and a private Islamic bank!
They will run on the MB ticket….they still can do that. Who is Abduallah kidding? Not us, the Palestinians of Jordan, that’s for sure.
Mudar Zahran
The Jordanians are RACIST! President Obama loves the Muslim Brotherhood, as do the mainstream media and most liberals. What does race have to do with politics or religion (where genetic traits don’t come into play)? Nothing. However, do expect Obama to call for democratic elections in the Hashemite Kingdom very shortly.
This is a prudent action on the part of the Jordanian GOVERNMENT. The fact that the fanatics form the largest political party in the country, however, is a continuing reminder of the extreme antisocial sentiments of the PEOPLE. It seems the biggest problem in the Middle East isn’t the governments in the area, but the continual stream of hateful, Quran-inspired rhetoric that spews forth in the mosques every Friday. That is where the popular sentiment is coming from. Banning political parties has a temporary effect. What is needed, is public beheadings of clerics spreading hatred and disorder. These actions have nothing to do with religion, and everything to do with politics and public safety.