"A true triumph of progress over regression," claimed King Abdullah, boasting about Jordan's elections from the U.N. podium in New York on Sept. 20, the day his kingdom went to the polls. Many Jordanians thought otherwise.
Despite a relentless public-information campaign and the participation of the pro-Islamist Muslim Brotherhood for the first time in nine years, turnout slumped to a dismal 37 percent, down from 56 percent at the election before. In parts of Amman, the capital, barely one in five of those eligible bothered to vote.
The low turnout is a sign that many people saw the elections as a waste of time. The king swiftly reappointed the same unelected cabinet with only a few minor alterations, and since then has proceeded to push through a host of decrees. Wise-but-unpopular decisions to buy gas from Israel and to revise the school curriculum by removing troublesome Qur'anic verses were issued as decrees.
Ever since it was fashioned by Britain after the World War I, Jordan has served as a pro-Western outpost and a buffer keeping its petulant neighbors at bay. But as it transforms into a populous Arab state, the kingdom shows signs of strain. Economically and politically it is struggling to make the transition, say critics; "plucky little Jordan" is acquiring some of the attributes of the authoritarian regimes that surround it in all directions.
In the absence of a credible opposition, Jordanians are starting to look for less-established ways to make their voices count. Across the kingdom, protesters have taken to the streets to denounce the gas deal and education reform, despite a heavy police presence.
On Oct. 9, riots erupted in Quwaismeh, a suburb of Amman, after a series of police raids. And with the Brotherhood, Jordan's historically pro-royal Islamist movement, there are signs that the aggrieved are finding more extreme outlets. Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant flags have been spotted flying in Salt, an old trading town west of Amman.
The kingdom's tranquillity is threatened in other ways, too. Crime is climbing. At the end of September a well-known journalist, Nahed Hattar, was shot dead on the steps of Amman's courthouse before a hearing on blasphemy charges; the killer was an education-ministry official. In rural areas, where elections are fiercely contested as tribal shows of strength, the losers have blocked roads and clashed with police. "The ballot boxes were stolen," said Hind al-Fayez, a candidate who accused the interior minister of corruption and then lost her bid for re-election.
Fayez has gone to court alleging that the vote was rigged, but even if the result is reversed she said she will not take her seat. "Street movements have more power than parliament," she said.
