Islamic Action Front

The Islamic Action Front ("Jabhat al-'Amal al-Islami", Arabic: جبهة العمل الإسلامي) is a political party in Jordan. It is the political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan.

Founded in 1992 with 350 initial members, Engineer Ahmed Azaida, Dr Ishaq Farhan and Dr Abdul Latif Arabiyat were the main force behind the formation. [http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/EC07Ak01.html]

Sheikh Hamzeh Mansour is the chief of the IAF and has declared the organization's intentions as eventually wanting "to be treated as free men" and as wanting "relations with the US based on mutual respect," while questioning US Administration's motives in the Middle-East and around the World. [http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/EC07Ak01.html]

----In 1997, three years after Jordan's peace accord with Israel, IAF boycotted Parliamentary elections, citing manipulation by the government. [http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9711/04/jordan.elex/]

At the legislative elections, 17 June 2003, the party won 20 out of 84 seats. All other seats were won by non-partisans. The leftist National Democratic Block did not win any seats. Homepage: [www.jabha.net] .

During the August, 2007 Municipal Elections, IAF withdrew their 25 candidates up for election, accusing 'the authorities of manipulating votes cast by military personnel who were taking part in municipal elections for the first time.' [http://www.albawaba.com/en/countries/Jordan/215686]

The voter turnout for the election was a record-low 51%, but IAF still won four contests, including two mayorships. [http://www.jordantimes.com/thu/homenews/homenews1.htm]

Four months later, the IAF fielded 22 candidates for the Jordanian national elections held on November 20th, 2007. Of its 22 candidates, only 6 successfully won parliamentary seats in the elections, marking the lowest showing of the Islamist party since the resumption of parliamentary life in Jordan in 1989.

The IAF attributed its loss to the government overlooking illegal practices such as vote buying, the transfer of large amounts of votes, and inserting large amounts of voting cards in ballot boxes [http://www.jabha.net/body0.asp?field=beanat2003&id=125] . Nevertheless, a few days after the election, the Muslim Brotherhood (the social organization that informs the IAF’s platform) dissolved its Shura Council and started preparing for internal elections to take place within 6 months.