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Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - The slow-motion spectacle of announcing the candidates’ list of the National Current Party (NCP) raised speculation on whether the newly-formed political party will live up to the hype it gave itself.

The list consists of an 'old guard' band: former deputies, former ministers, former senators, and a number of new names believed to have a pretty decent chance of winning on purely 'tribal' considerations.

NCP, which boasted itself as the next up-and-coming grand ole' party aimed at running on a 'national' level to compete with the title-holders (Islamists) as the most prominent political front.

One would think they have a good chance, especially amidst stern boycott by the Muslim Brotherhood and the Islamic Action Front (IAF), yet emerging facts are reflecting a different reality.

Upon announcement, it boasted 38 candidates running in various governorates throughout the kingdom. Yet that list quickly dropped to 32, after 6 members abruptly withdrew from the list without citing their reasons, as reported by Al Arab Al Yawm newspaper on Sunday.

Prominent members of the party, alongside those candidates who withdrew from the list, are running independently, relying on their tribal backbone instead.

Take for example former deputy and minister Mufleh Al-Ruheimi, a longtime confidant of the NCP president, Abdul Hadi Al-Majali, who dominated the position of House Speaker in the 15th parliament, prior to its dissolution.

Al-Ruheimi chose not to gamble his seat in parliament by running on the list of the young party, which managed to muster numbers and finances in such a short period of time since it was established less than a year ago.

NCP's challenge is reaching and appealing to the popular bases. Yet it is apparent that NCP is relying widely on the tribal bases of its own candidates to get to parliament, rather than the swanked 'national' reform platform it has propagated since the days it was a political coalition bloc in the 15th parliament.

Such tribal reliance was clearly evident when the party's grand leader, Al-Majali, announced that his decision to run for parliamentary elections is directly dependent on the will of his tribe, and not the political party that he himself established.

NCP's list of candidates did not contain heavy-weight names, as many expected. It was apparent that Al-Majali's hunch from the beginning was to choose candidates that have a near-sure chance of winning the elections - former deputies who ensured their win in their own pre-calculations. Yet experience just may prove the opposite.

Unfortunately, Al-Majali's party did not concern itself with presenting new models to the popular bases on a national level - candidates that will constitute the preamble to real 'change' and not just the slogan.

The National Current parliamentary bloc in the 15th parliament, headed by Speaker of the House, Al-Majali, was blamed for the dissolution of the parliament, since it transformed the legislative branch into a piece of 'dough' to be molded by the hands of the government.

NCP raised high hopes of transforming Jordanian politics from 'tribal' oriented to a nationwide oriented platform. So far, this has not materialized. It has not built its foundations on popular bases of massive supporters among the every-day citizenry, as did Islamists in Jordan. It has so far substantiated an “inverted democratic pyramid”, aimed at achieving the 'change' they promise top-bottom.

* By Banan Malkawi/ Muhammad Abdul Muhdi

** Cartoon by Samir alRamahi