ISLAMISTS DEMAND FAIR REPRESENTATION

Jordan holds parliamentary elections on Tuesday that the powerful Muslim Brotherhood will boycott in protest at what it says has been a gradual erosion of parliament's independence.

The Islamist boycott, coupled with apathy over an assembly seen as increasingly a rubber stamp for government policy, could bring one of the lowest turnouts since parliament was revived in 1989, analysts and politicians say.

Defying liberals and Islamists alike, the government has maintained -- with only minor changes -- an election law that under-represents large cities that are Islamist and Palestinian strongholds in favour of sparsely populated tribal areas which form a bedrock of support for the kingdom's Hashemite monarchy.

"Many Jordanians will not participate in the elections because of their conviction of the futility of participating... and this has been strengthened by the new electoral law that is not convincing to anyone," Mohammed al-Momani, a political science professor at Yarmouk University, said.

The Islamist absence has left less than a seventh of the 763 candidates campaigning under party banners, with the field open for tribal candidates mostly loyal to King Abdullah, who appoints the prime minister and his cabinet.

Prime Minister Samir al-Rifai has sought to drum up support for the polls and met young people, women and even Muslim imams with one message -- participation is a national duty.

"Those who don't vote are giving up their rights. There are a lot of expectations and we hope the next parliament will be representative of the will and desires of every single Jordanian," Rifai told reporters on Sunday.

The ballot comes almost a year after King Abdullah dissolved the last parliament halfway through its term.

In the post-election period, Jordan faces the challenge of forging ahead with reforms to spur growth in a sluggish economy hit by the global downturn. A parliament that acquiesces in unpopular policies was needed to give credibility to state decisions even if its policy-making role was almost negligible, independent politicians say.

ISLAMISTS DEMAND FAIR REPRESENTATION

The Muslim Brotherhood, the country's only real opposition, say they are not turning their back on parliamentary democracy but protesting an electoral law that ensures pro-government loyalists are elected.

"We are seeking a change in the rules that would bring a parliament that truly represents people," said Sheikh Hamam Said the head of the Brotherhood, whose political arm, the Islamic Action Front, is the country's largest party.

The Islamists say their decision also was influenced by fears of a repeat of irregularities and vote rigging seen in the 2007 polls that whittled their weight to a handful of seats.

Thousands of plainclothes police were ferried in buses to vote in Islamist strongholds in that election, officials in the last government have conceded.

Some tribal candidates also are unhappy with the law, saying it has divided constituencies in a way that pits one tribal clan against another, eroding the fabric of their close-knit society.

"The law has torn tribal bonds in favour of the influential tribes and those with money. It has downsized my aspirations as a candidate who cares about his country to one who must serve his immediate clan," said Sheikh Talal Seetan al-Madi, candidate for a bedouin constituency near Mafraq in north Jordan.