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Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - Jordan's Muslim Brotherhood Shura (Consultation) Council decided late on Thursday evening in an overwhelming majority to boycott the upcoming parliamentary elections set for November 9th, 2010.

A source within the movement's leadership said in statements to 'Ammon News' that the Brotherhood Shura Council voted on Thursday night in favor of boycotting the elections, with 43 votes went in favor of the boycott out of a total of 51 votes.

Three choices were proposed before the council on Thursday, either to participate, boycott, or set conditioned participation in the elections, yet the majority of votes went in favor of overall boycott of the parliamentary elections.

The boycott decision comes after the Islamist movement had participated in four parliamentary councils since the revival of political and democratic life in Jordan in 1989. The Muslim Brotherhood participated in the 1989, 1993, 2003, and 2007 elections, but had boycotted the 1997 elections after the government refused to change the controversial one-person one-vote electoral system.

It is noted that even Shura Council members who are dubbed 'Doves' from within the movement strongly propagated the boycott decision, many of whom had been in favor of election participation in the last elections in 2007 such as Rheil Gharaibeh, Hikmat Rawashdeh and Nimr Assaf.

On their part, some moderate members favored a pre-conditioned participation in the election to leave room for negotiating with the government on certain reforms the movement demands from the government, such as returning affiliated charities back to the control of the Brotherhood, reconsidering the electoral law, public assembly law, and to stop putting movement members on trial, in addition to meeting the demands of the kingdom's teachers who are calling for the revival of a professional association.

Despite the nearly 12 pre-conditions proposed for participation, the moderates failed to convince the council members in favor of participating in the upcoming elections.

The Shura Council of the Islamic Action Front (IAF), Jordan's largest opposition political party, is scheduled to meet Saturday morning to discuss the party's decision on whether to boycott or take part in the upcoming elections.



* By Banan Malkawi