[Washington Post] Ellen Knickmeyer and Yasmin Mousa - Tuesday's elections for the 110 seats in Jordan's lower house are marked by growing charges that the parliament is only superficially democratic. About 900 candidates are running, including about 200 women. The country's electoral system gives disproportionate representation to sparsely populated rural areas, a setup that favors tribal candidates, who generally support government policies, over liberal and Islamic opposition politicians concentrated in urban areas. Analysts predict that opposition parties will win 20% of the seats.
2007-11-20 01:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive