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Source: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=5&article_id=23835
Jordan's Rising Islamists Demand More of a Say in Governance
(Daily Star-Lebanon) Curtis R. Ryan - Jordan's Islamic Action Front (IAF), the political party of the Muslim Brotherhood, is now positioning itself to demand more of a role in governance. Hamas' electoral victory has emboldened the Front to translate its popularity into greater political clout. In 1989, when the Hashemite regime initiated elections for the lower house of parliament, the Muslim Brotherhood secured 22 seats (out of a total of 80), while independent Islamists won an additional 12. In the 2003 elections, the first under King Abdullah II, the IAF gained 17 seats in a parliament now expanded to 110 members. In November 2005, al-Qaeda suicide bombers struck three luxury hotels in central Amman. The government meanwhile called for pre-emptive war on militant forms of Islamism, which the IAF and Muslim Brotherhood feared might be used against them. In January 2006, the government charged IAF leader Jamil Abu Bakr with "harming the dignity of the state."