Islamists make comeback in union elections in Jordan

The Islamist faction in Jordan, which is associated with the Muslim Brotherhood group, has made a series of consecutive electoral wins in the country’s professional syndicates in less than a month, having obtained the majority of seats in the teachers’ and medical doctors’ associations, the Student Union of the University of Jordan, and the student association at the Faculty of Technological Engineering

Such electoral results in favour of Islamists had been absent for several years partially due to interventions from the state, such as the state’s backing of rival candidates, which was the case in the Jordan Engineers Association’s elections.

In 2018 the Muslim Brotherhood lost the Jordan Engineers Association elections, which was a first given that the association had been a stronghold for the group since 1992. In May 2018, a ticket representing a coalition of leftists, pan-Arabists, and secularists won the presidency and deputy presidency in the association’s 2018 election.

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