By JAMAL HALABY
The Associated Press
Wednesday, November 21, 2007; 10:14 AM

AMMAN, Jordan -- Supporters of King Abdullah II, a close U.S. ally, handily defeated the country's Islamist opposition in parliamentary elections, dropping their number of parliament seats by nearly two-thirds, final results showed Wednesday.

Meanwhile, it was widely expected that King Abdullah would appoint a new government in the next few days, since Prime Minister Marouf al-Bakhit's mandate ended with Tuesday's election.

Supporters of the king, mainly tribal Bedouin and centrist politicians, secured a majority of the seats in the 110-member Chamber of Deputies.

Their victory was widely expected and attributed to the strong influence of family and tribal links on voting in Jordan and the inability of the Islamists to deliver on long-standing promises to improve the economic lot of country's poor.

The Islamic Action Front, the country's largest opposition group, fielded 22 candidates and won only six seats, down from 17 in the outgoing parliament, according to final results announced by Interior Minister Eid al-Fayez.

A handful of known sympathizers of the Islamist bloc who ran as independents also were defeated. Even popular IAF female candidate Hayet al-Musaymeh, who held a seat in the previous parliament, also lost her bid.

Seven other women, both liberals and conservatives who ran as independents, won seats.

IAF leader Jamil Abu-Bakr blamed his group's defeat on government "fraud" in the election, including what he described as state "collusion" with some candidates who allegedly bought votes from the poor _ a charge the government strongly denied.

However, officials acknowledged that 17 people were arrested on charges of tampering with the election process Tuesday, including two who allegedly were involved in vote buying.