Free and fair elections clash with goals of Jordan vote run by dictatorship under pretext of democratization

Dictator rules through brutal secret police

Vote seen as referendum on Jordan’s gradual reforms

The Christian Science Monitor

The Jordanian government is gearing up for parliamentary elections tomorrow that it sees as a referendum on this small kingdom’s attempts at gradual reform.  Polls taken throughout the year, however, show disinterest or disenchantment from a large portion of the electorate. Years of stagnant politics plague the nation.