Legislative in Morocco: the Islamists in power undergo a spectacular rout in favor of the liberals

Rout for the PJD. At the head of the Moroccan government for a decade, the Islamist party suffered a spectacular defeat in the legislative elections of Wednesday, September 8, according to the provisional results announced by the Ministry of the Interior. An unexpected defeat to the benefit of liberal parties considered close to the royal family, while the turnout was slightly higher than in the last election in 2016.

The Justice and Development Party (PJD, moderate Islamist) is collapsing, dropping from 125 seats in the outgoing assembly to 12, Interior Minister Abdelouafi Laftit said during a press briefing.

It comes far behind its main rivals, the National Rally of Independents (RNI), the Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM), both liberal in tendency, and the Istiqlal Party (center-right), with respectively 97, 82 and 78 (out of 395 deputies).

The RNI, which belongs to the governing coalition, is headed by a wealthy businessman, Aziz Akhannouch, described as close to the palace.

And the PAM, the main opposition party, was founded by the current royal adviser, Fouad Ali El Himma, in 2008 before he resigned in 2011.

The oldest party in Morocco, the center-right Istiqlal (Independence) party has made a noticeable comeback with a gain of 32 seats.

The magnitude of the defeat of the Islamists is unexpected insofar as, despite the absence of polls, the media and analysts believed that the PJD would still play the first places.

Long confined to the opposition, the PJD hoped to run for a third consecutive term as head of government.

Participation on the rise

It will be up to King Mohammed VI to appoint a head of government, from the party that won the legislative elections, who will be responsible for forming an executive for a five-year term. He will succeed the secretary general of the PJD, Saad-Eddine El Othmani.

The final results should be known Thursday, September 9.

The participation rate reached 50.35% nationally, according to the latest figure given by the Minister of the Interior.

It had capped at 43% during the previous legislative elections in 2016 and at 53% during the last local elections in 2015.

But this is the first time that some 18 million voters have chosen their 395 deputies on the same day as their municipal and regional representatives. Which reduced the abstention.

Turnout was high in the southern regions which encompass the part of the disputed territory of Western Sahara controlled by Morocco.

Accusations of “serious irregularities”

In 2011, Morocco adopted a new Constitution granting wide prerogatives to Parliament and the government.

However, decisions and orientations in key sectors continue to emanate from initiatives of King Mohammed VI.

Earlier in the day, the Islamists had reported “serious irregularities”, including “the obscene distribution of money” near polling stations and “confusion” on some electoral lists, citizens not finding their name there .

The voting operations took place “under normal circumstances”, assured Abdelouafi Laftit, except “isolated cases”.

“Admission of failure”

The end of the short electoral campaign, marked by the absence of major political meetings because of Covid-19, had already been poisoned by accusations of buying votes.

A lively controversy has also opposed the PJD to the RNI in recent days.

The former head of government and former secretary general of the PJD Abdelilah Benkirane had fired a red bullet on the head of the RNI, Aziz Akhannouch, judging that “a politician of integrity” was needed for the presidency of the government.

Minister of Agriculture since 2007, Aziz Akhannouch retorted that the Islamists’ criticisms were “an admission of failure” and “were only intended to sow discord”.

The minister, at the head of one of the largest fortunes in the country, has already played a key role in the previous government, controlling important portfolios such as Economy and Finance or Industry.

New reforms

It is the first time since the first elections in Morocco were held in 1960 that the distribution of seats in the House of Representatives was calculated on the basis of the number of registered voters and not of the voters.

This new method of calculation should favor small parties to the detriment of large parties. But only the PJD had opposed it, considering itself already “wronged”.

Electoral competition was characterized by the absence of a well-defined polarization on political choices.

After the ballot, political parties will be invited to adopt “a pact” resulting from a “new development model”, which foreshadows a “new generation of reforms and projects”, as Mohammed VI recently promised.

With AFP