Special to WorldTribune.com

TEL AVIV — Jordan’s King Abdullah has defeated the Islamist
opposition in wake of parliamentary elections last month, a report
said.

The Institute for National Security Studies asserted that Abdullah
succeeded in capturing parliament despite an Islamist boycott of the
elections.

In a report by former senior Israeli official Oded Eran, Abdullah
was said to have persuaded the international community of a fair election on Jan. 23 in what could have marginalized the Islamic Action Front.

“At this stage of the domestic power struggle between the king and the
opposition, the king has the upper hand,” the report, “King Abdullah Is This Round’s Winner,” said. “A significant portion of Jordanian society, representing all its strata, participated in the election on the basis of the new election law supported by King Abdullah, while the opposition’s demands, which would have limited his authority, were rejected.”

Eran, a former Foreign Ministry director-general and ambassador to
Amman, cited the election of a record 19 women to the 150-seat parliament. He said the 400 foreign observers voiced little more than mild criticism regarding the elections.

Dated Jan. 31, the report said the Muslim Brotherhood has failed to
rally the masses to anti-government protests. Moreover, the Brotherhood,
which dominates the opposition, also did not stop a 70 percent turnout for
the elections.

Still, the Brotherhood was expected to continue efforts to maintain
unrest throughout the kingdom. The report said Abdullah would also be
challenged by the economic hardships in Jordan as well as the influx of
Syrian refugees, now believed at more than 300,000.

“One may assume that the Muslim Brotherhood’s failure to stabilize its
rule in Egypt and the horrors of the violence in Syria will limit the power
of Jordan’s opposition, but the king’s future path is hardly rosy,” the
report said.

  Institute for National Security Studies, Islamic Action Front, Islamists dealt major blow as Abdullah triumphs in Jordan elections, Muslim Brotherhood