The preliminary returns from Tuesday’s election indicated that the supporters of the king, mainly tribal Bedouin and centrist politicians, had secured a majority of seats in the 110-member Chamber of Deputies.
Their victory was widely expected and attributed to the strong influence of family and tribal links on voting in Jordan and the inability of the Islamists to deliver on long-standing promises to improve the economic lot of country’s poor.
The Islamic Action Front, the country’s largest opposition group which fielded 22 candidates, won only seven seats, down from 17 in the outgoing parliament.
Popular IAF female candidate Hayet al-Musaymeh, who held a seat in the previous parliament, also lost her bid in the election.
Instead, seven other women, both liberals and conservatives who ran as independents, won seat.
The government had reserved six seats for women to ensure their presence in the lawmaking body in conservative, tribal-oriented Jordan, when men have the final say in all matters.
