Islamists-led coalition wins big in Jordan local polls

By Laith al-Junaidi

AMMAN (AA) - An Islamist-led coalition has won 76 seats in Tuesday's local and provincial elections in Jordan, according to a coalition member.

The National Alliance for Reform won 25 seats in provincial councils, out of 48 seats the bloc vied for," Murad al-Adayla, head of the election panel at the Islamic Action Front (IAF), the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood group, told Anadolu Agency on Wednesday.

The National Alliance for Reform is a broad coalition of parties led by the IAF.

Al-Adayla said the bloc also won the seats of three municipal chiefs, including the provincial industrial city of Zarqa.

"At the level of local councils, the coalition won 41 seats, out of 88 candidates," he said, adding that the bloc has also helped three candidates, who were not on the coalition lists, to win the seats of municipal chiefs during the polls.

Official results are yet to be announced.

Last year, Islamists won 15 seats out of 130 seats in Jordan's parliamentary election.

Over 1.3 million people -- or 31 percent of those eligible -- voted in Tuesday's local and provincial elections, according to the country's election commission.

A total of 6,622 candidates competed for 2,109 local council seats and 350 in provincial council seats.

Tuesday's vote was held under a new “decentralization law” that was adopted in 2015.

According to the law, each of Jordan’s 12 provinces will have an executive council, appointed by the government and headed up by the provincial governor, in addition to a provincial council, three quarters of whose members are elected while the rest are appointed by the government.