INTERNATIONAL POLICY ANALYSIS Parliamentary Elections in Jordan A Competition of Mixed Messages ANJA WEHLER-SCHOECK September 2016 „ „ In the midst of continuous regional turmoil, Jordanians will be heading to the poll­ing stations next week on 20 September to cast their votes for the 18 th national Parliament. „ „ A new election law based on open proportional lists at the district level sees an in­creased role for political parties. Yet, after almost three decades of an electoral sys­tem explicitly designed to weaken their role, it comes as little surprise that parties are still struggling to present themselves as strong actors. „ „ In the run-up to the elections, candidates have formed alliances across the political spectrum but few lists feature programmatic agendas or even a clear political vision. „ „ Having boycotted the past two elections, the Muslim Brotherhood has decided to compete again this year. As a result of the numerous crises within the Brotherhood in the past few years, a variety of Islamist groups are competing against each other. „ „ Several polls show high frustration among citizens with regard to the role and per­formance of Parliament as well as a significant degree of indifference towards the elections, making a low voter turnout very likely.