|
|
Index / Political situation /
   Jordan /
Political situation
|
Kings
|
|
Abdullah 1
|
1921-1951 |
|
Talal
|
1951-1952 |
|
Hussein
|
1952-1999 |
|
Abdullah 2
|
1999- |
House of Representatives
Seats. General election June 17, 2003 |
| Independent and tribal representatives |
80 |
| IAF (Islamic Action Front) |
17 |
| Independent Islamists |
5 |
| Leftist Democratic Party |
2 |
|
Jordan is stable, and this is to a large extent explained by the fact that Jordan has some democratic structures, even if the king is very strong and omnipresent in Jordanian political life. There is also a certain level of freedom of speech.
Jordan thrives from the moderate politics and flexibility of its new king, a line he continues from his father, Hussein 1, who died in 1999.
The ten last years of Jordan's political history have seen strong changes. A ban leaving the Communists and the Islamists out of politics, was lifted in 1991. Both parties are now strongly represented in the parliament. "The Jordan Example", meaning that the rhetorics of the Islamists are weakened by the responsibility of power and real influence, is strongly discussed all over the Muslim world.
Another kind of politics, the politics of power, was implemented earlier, and Jordan has many times been on the fringes of civil war. This was in particular connected to the activities of the PLO.
In recent years the popular support of the Islamists has weakened, and in elections in 1995 they lost a large percentage of their seats in the parliament.
|
|
