Jordan to hold parliamentary polls on November 10

Jordan has set November 10 as the date for a parliamentary election hours after a royal decree by King Abdullah to hold countrywide polls. 

The announcement was reported by state media on Wednesday.

Jordan's electoral law marginalises representation of political parties. 

Constitutionally, most powers rest with the king, who appoints governments and approves the legislation.

The election will be held at a time the aid-dependent country grapples with a severe economic contraction with the impact of Covid-19. 

The country was already in a precarious situation even before the new coronavirus, with unemployment at 19.3 percent in the first quarter of this year.

READ MORE: Jordan dissolves its Muslim Brotherhood branch

West Bank annexation 

Worries have also heightened about any possible Israeli move to annex territory in the occupied West Bank.

Officials fear that annexation would bury the prospect of a viable Palestinian state and eventually bring a settlement of the decades-old conflict at the expense of Jordan, a country where many people are descendants of Palestinian refugees whose families left after the creation of Israel in 1948.

Jordan's main political opposition comes from a party drawn from the ranks of the Muslim Brotherhood movement but it faces legal curbs on its activities.

READ MORE: What Israel’s proposed annexation means for Jordan