Supporters of Jordan's King Abdullah II defeated the country's Islamist opposition in parliamentary elections, dropping their number of seats in parliament by nearly two-thirds, according to unofficial results released Wednesday.
According to the AP, the initial returns from Tuesday's election showed that supporters of the king, mainly tribal Bedouin and centrist politicians, had secured a majority of the seats in the 110-member Chamber of Deputies.
Their outcome was expected and attributed to the strong influence of family and tribal links on voting in Jordan and the inability of the Islamists to deliver on long-standing promises to improve the economic situation of kingdom's poor.
The Islamic Action Front, the country's largest opposition group which fielded 22 candidates, won only seven seats, down from 17 in the outgoing parliament.Popular IAF female candidate Hayet al-Musaymeh, who held a seat in the previous parliament, also lost her bid in Tuesday's election.
Instead, seven other women, both liberals and conservatives who ran as independents, won seats.
