An article that pinpoints and analyzes an interesting phenomenon in the Middle East was published last week in the Jordan Times. The opinion piece notes the outcomes of elections in Algeria, Morocco, Bahrain, Turkey and Pakistan over the past months and warns, ?Forget Iraq, Israel/Palestine, Iran, oil, and terror for a moment... The news should be sobering for ruling governments and political elites, and perhaps also for the United States, Israel and their friends in the area.? While elections in the Arab and Moslem world are far from free, in the Western sense of the word, the option to vote for Islamist representatives was available in all five states, and in all five states the Islamists won big or made significant gains.
The article lays out the facts: ?The biggest victory was by the Justice and Development Party in Turkey, giving it a parliamentary majority and control of the next government. In Bahrain, the Islamists won 24 of the 40 elected seats in the 80-member parliament (the other 40 seats are appointed by the king). In Pakistan, the Islamists scored big victories in two of the four national provinces and should share power in a national coalition government. In Algeria, the municipal elections... Islamist parties hold their ground behind the resurgent National Liberation Front. In Morocco, as the government coalition maintained control of parliament... Islamist seats jumped from 14 to 42.? In fact, the author claims, ?Islamists and other opposition groups tend to enjoy much greater public support than was reflected in the voting...? He bases this claim on the manipulations the generally authoritarian regimes employed to limit opposition gains. ?[G]overnments had banned some opposition parties (Turkey, Algeria); electoral districts were gerrymandered to restrict opposition forces and exaggerate pro-government support... states unilaterally usurped power from legislatures and shifted it to the presidency-by-coup (Pakistan); or, governments arranged some voting processes to help their preferred candidates,? the Jordan Times article states. Furthermore, it notes, ?Such practices caused some leading Islamist and leftist opposition groups to boycott the polls (Bahrain and Morocco, and Jordan five years ago...)...?
Nevertheless, the very fact that elections were held should make one ?applaud these countries for self confidently holding their elections on time, despite the internal procedural distortions mentioned above or the external distortions caused by volatile regional events,? the Jordanian columnist wrote. The elections served their purpose, according to the columnist, ?to gauge the pulse of the citizenry and to give every citizen a real sense of empowerment in being able to express their opinions, elect their leaders, shape their policies and hold their leaders accountable....?
According to the election outcomes, the editorial identifies, ?a large and growing gap between government policies and public opinion,? and asks, ?Why have Islamist parties surged so dramatically in five very different countries, after broadly losing credibility throughout the region in recent years??
The answer is two-fold, according to the Jordanian columnist: ?[L]ocal issues predominate... but the impact of American and Israeli policies should not be underestimated. In three of these five countries where anti-government forces scored big (Pakistan, Turkey and Bahrain), there is a very strong American military presence, and equally powerful political ties with Washington.? Accordingly, the Jordan Times articlle says, ?Voters concerned about local issues of social justice and economic development may also be saying that they would like the US to be a partner and friend, rather than a
self-imposed lone arbiter of regional orders, legitimate regimes or security norms.?
?[L]isten well and carefully interpret what just plain folks around here are saying as they speak with passion and clarity at the ballot box,? concludes the Jordanian opinion piece.
The article lays out the facts: ?The biggest victory was by the Justice and Development Party in Turkey, giving it a parliamentary majority and control of the next government. In Bahrain, the Islamists won 24 of the 40 elected seats in the 80-member parliament (the other 40 seats are appointed by the king). In Pakistan, the Islamists scored big victories in two of the four national provinces and should share power in a national coalition government. In Algeria, the municipal elections... Islamist parties hold their ground behind the resurgent National Liberation Front. In Morocco, as the government coalition maintained control of parliament... Islamist seats jumped from 14 to 42.? In fact, the author claims, ?Islamists and other opposition groups tend to enjoy much greater public support than was reflected in the voting...? He bases this claim on the manipulations the generally authoritarian regimes employed to limit opposition gains. ?[G]overnments had banned some opposition parties (Turkey, Algeria); electoral districts were gerrymandered to restrict opposition forces and exaggerate pro-government support... states unilaterally usurped power from legislatures and shifted it to the presidency-by-coup (Pakistan); or, governments arranged some voting processes to help their preferred candidates,? the Jordan Times article states. Furthermore, it notes, ?Such practices caused some leading Islamist and leftist opposition groups to boycott the polls (Bahrain and Morocco, and Jordan five years ago...)...?
Nevertheless, the very fact that elections were held should make one ?applaud these countries for self confidently holding their elections on time, despite the internal procedural distortions mentioned above or the external distortions caused by volatile regional events,? the Jordanian columnist wrote. The elections served their purpose, according to the columnist, ?to gauge the pulse of the citizenry and to give every citizen a real sense of empowerment in being able to express their opinions, elect their leaders, shape their policies and hold their leaders accountable....?
According to the election outcomes, the editorial identifies, ?a large and growing gap between government policies and public opinion,? and asks, ?Why have Islamist parties surged so dramatically in five very different countries, after broadly losing credibility throughout the region in recent years??
The answer is two-fold, according to the Jordanian columnist: ?[L]ocal issues predominate... but the impact of American and Israeli policies should not be underestimated. In three of these five countries where anti-government forces scored big (Pakistan, Turkey and Bahrain), there is a very strong American military presence, and equally powerful political ties with Washington.? Accordingly, the Jordan Times articlle says, ?Voters concerned about local issues of social justice and economic development may also be saying that they would like the US to be a partner and friend, rather than a
self-imposed lone arbiter of regional orders, legitimate regimes or security norms.?
?[L]isten well and carefully interpret what just plain folks around here are saying as they speak with passion and clarity at the ballot box,? concludes the Jordanian opinion piece.