Jordanians will head to the polls in September to vote for members of the lower chamber of the parliament, the 130-seat House of Representatives, while the upper house, the Senate, is appointed by the king. Candidates typically run as independents and in the November 2020 election a majority of seats were won by tribal figures or businesspeople considered loyal to the monarchy. Liberal and Islamist politicians and parties have historically struggled against these powerful tribal constituencies. The main opposition group, the Islamic Action Front (IAF), and its Islah Alliance won just five seats in 2020. Jordanian elections are administered by the Independent Election Commission, which receives positive reviews from international monitors in terms of technical management, though irregularities such as vote buying have been reported in past votes. 

This assessment was last updated on August 12, 2024.

Jordan’s parliamentary elections will take place amid economic strife and ongoing security tensions as the region continues to reel from the impact of Israel’s war in Gaza. The conflict is likely to have an outsized impact on this year’s election and popular domestic support for the Palestinian cause could help the IAF and other Islamist candidates in their electoral bids. Jordan is home to the largest number of Palestinian refugees globally, and the IAF has been a central player in organizing massive pro-Palestinian street protests across Jordan. Since October 2023, the government has taken an increasingly hostile stance to these protests and at least 1,500 people have been arrested for protest-related activities. Dozens have been charged with violating the 2023 Cybercrime Law, which includes criminal penalties for broadly defined online speech and introduces additional punishments for the use of circumvention tools, for sharing pro-Palestinian content on social media. 

Voter turnout at parliamentary elections has historically been low and aspects of the country’s political system—including the overrepresentation of rural voters who tend to support promonarchy tribal elites—limit the ability of opposition parties or candidates to make significant electoral gains. There have already been reports that the IAF may boycott the vote in part due to the Israel-Hamas war and the monarchy’s diplomatic relationship with Israel, which Islamists view as at odds with the Palestinian cause. Even if the IAF were to perform well in the upcoming elections, the king’s dominant role in politics and governance and the relatively weak power of the House of Representatives would likely stymie any potential policy shifts, particularly in relation to Israel or the ongoing war. 

Jordan has a score of 39 out of 100, with 100 representing the strongest defenses against digital election interference. The score reflects an environment where basic political rights are restricted and where authorities have increasingly cracked down on freedom of assembly and online expression. 

Freedom House has identified the following as key digital interference issues to watch ahead of election day:  

• Arrests and prosecutions: Online discussion of politics, the monarchy, and security issues is inhibited by the threat of punishment under various laws governing expression. The Cybercrime Law, which criminalizes publishing information online that is deemed false or damaging to national unity, offers authorities overly broad discretion to prosecute political speech. Dozens of people have already been criminally charged under this law, including political activists and ordinary social media users. In June 2024, Heba Abu Taha became the first journalist in Jordan sentenced under this law after publishing an article online about how Jordan serves as a bridge for companies to ship goods into Israel.  
• Blocking social media and communications platforms: Authorities in Jordan have previously restricted access to social media and communication services, such as TikTok, Clubhouse, and Facebook Live. TikTok has been blocked in Jordan since December 2022, and authorities have throttled Facebook Live during public demonstrations in recent years. These incidents may signal a willingness on the part of the government to impose similar restrictions during politically tense moments or election-related demonstrations. The ongoing blocking of TikTok also limits how the platform could be leveraged for political campaigning and as a source of information for voters. 
• Online surveillance: The Telecommunications Law requires companies to enable the tracking of private communications upon the issuance of a court order, and many Jordanians believe that government agents routinely listen to their phone calls and monitor their online activities. Jordanian government agencies were suspected of using Pegasus spyware to hack the phones of human rights activists, lawyers, and journalists between 2019 and late 2023. In a February 2024 report, Access Now noted that Palestinian American journalist Daoud Kuttab was successfully hacked three times in 2022 and 2023 and was unsuccessfully targeted another seven times. Infringements to online privacy via the use of surveillance technology could pose threats to election integrity and have a chilling effect on political campaigning and engagement, especially when targeting government critics, opposition politicians, and journalists. 

Jordan is rated Not Free in Freedom in the World 2024, with a score of 33 out of 100 with respect to its political rights and civil liberties; and Partly Free in Freedom on the Net 2023, with an internet freedom score of 47 out of 100. To learn more about these annual Freedom House assessments, please visit the Jordan country reports in Freedom in the World, Freedom on the Net, and Freedom House’s Jordan country portal.