A girl watches as her mother votes at a polling station in Amman January 23, 2013. (Reuters / Muhammad Hamed)

General elections dubbed ‘cosmetic’ by the opposition have kicked off in Jordan. The Muslim Brotherhood and several other parties urged voters to boycott the election for the sake of democracy.

Some 2.3 million people are eligible to vote in Jordan, however the passionate calls to ignore the elections sent by the Islamists may negatively affect the turnout.

With major parties abstaining from the election process the majority of some 1,500 candidates are tribal leaders, public figures and businessmen. They are running for 150 seats in the country`s 17th parliament.

This is the first time Jordan is choosing the prime minister by general vote. The move was a part of a raft of reforms offered by King Abdullah in 2011 to soothe public discontent and shift the country towards constitutional monarchy.

But the Muslim Brotherhood and other oppositional parties have accused the king of simulating changes rather than implementing them.

“For all the talk of amending laws and reforming the Constitution, we are offered but minor changes, which will have no impact on the political system at large,” Zaki Bani Rsheid, the deputy leader of the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan told RT, “what we need is a true democratic transition, for the people to reclaim the power that they have been deprived of for decades.”

Jordan has recently seen several mass protests against the ‘cosmetic’ election. Protesters also called for King Abdullah to step down.

Forty-seven thousand police officers have been deployed to polling and vote-counting centers ahead of the election to monitor the situation.

An elderly woman is helped up a flight of stairs to cast her vote ballot at a polling station in Amman January 23, 2013. (Reuters / Muhammad Hamed)

Electoral officials show an empty ballot box before the box is sealed prior to voting at a poll station in Amman January 23, 2013. (Reuters / Muhammad Hamed)