Political Islam's Opportunity in Jordan

washington: In line with the speedy evolution in three nearby countries, Islam as a political force is moving to center stage in Jordan, where the government is a cooperative U.S. ally but where Muslim activists are cool both to Washington and Israel.

The path to greater influence and perhaps dominant political power may be through municipal elections that are supposed to take place this year and balloting for parliament in 2007, independent political observers say. However, rules for each vote have yet to be set, and the conditions will go a long way in revealing how quickly the country's ruler, King Abdullah, is willing to democratize in the face of the Islamic surge.

On Sunday, police briefly detained dozens of activists from Jordan's only legal Muslim party, the Islamic Action Front, who were handing out leaflets to protest rising fuel prices. The leaflets called for shops to close, but the response was negligible.

In any event, the blossoming of Islamic parties in Iraq, the success of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood in parliamentary elections last year and, most of all, the recent victory by Hamas in Palestinian legislative elections have convinced leaders of the Islamic Action Front that it can aspire to power here. "We not only have the right to participate in elections, but to form a government if we win," said Zaki Saad, the party leader. "Political Islam is a big part of the Arab people, so we represent a wide spectrum of Jordanians." Read more

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