Amman - Two-thirds of the 80 seats in Jordan's popularly elected lower house of parliament have been won by "king's men" - tribal notables, clan chieftains and loyalist businessmen, writes Michael Jansen. Thus, in one day Jordan reverted from its experiment with popular democratic politics to the traditional palace-dominated system.
This system empowered tribal and rural areas at the expense of urban centres and disenfranchised the opposition, consisting of a mixture of Islamists, nationalists and leftists, organised professionals and independent political figures, including two former prime ministers.
Because of a boycott by the opposition, only 54 per cent of the registered electorate went to the polls, as compared with 68 per cent in the last election in 1993.