Morocco’s ruling Islamist party has suffered a shock defeat in the last election: an event that has repercussions throughout North Africa given its pioneering role in political Islam in the midst of the Arab Spring.
The Islamist Party for Development and Justice (PJD), which was the first Islamist party to come to power in an election in the region and the wider Middle East, found its share of the vote decimated. from 125 to only 12 seats.
In 2011, the sense of a new beginning for many in Morocco was real.
Development changed over time.
The protests that first erupted in Tunisia, later known as the Arab Spring, were in full swing. Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali of Tunisia, Hosni Mubarak of Egypt and Muammar Gaddafi of Libya were overthrown that year.
Islamist parties were on the verge of winning elections in Egypt and Tunisia and changing the course of history, as many had hoped.
The king of Morocco, Mohammed VI, saw where the wind was blowing and acted quickly to prevent any similar disturbance that could threaten his throne.
He dismissed the cabinet and dissolved parliament. To curb the rising stream of protests, he announced plans to draft a new constitution to put Morocco on a new path.
“Cosmetic changes”
He was later approved by a resounding 98.5% of the vote, hailed as a game changer and helped portray the king as a benign autocrat who was willing to share power with the people.
But the reforms promised by the king were rejected as cosmetics by the Movement for Change on February 20, the banner under which demonstrations were organized during the Arab Spring.
He had taken to the streets demanding radical reform to turn Morocco into a constitutional monarchy, where the king would “reign but would not rule,” a symbol of the nation, more in line with the European monarchies of the United Kingdom or Scandinavia.
In fact, the king had retained almost all the powers he had held in the past in the new constitution. He continued to control foreign, defense and security policy.
He also maintained his position as the nation’s spiritual leader: he is officially the “Commander of the Faithful,” a historical description not used anywhere else today, and is based on the claim that his dynasty is a direct descendant of the Prophet Muhammad.
However, the new constitution kept the promise of a new beginning for parts of the political class, including the PJD.
The party seized the opportunity and rode on the crest of the wave of widespread discontent with the old political parties.
And the king and his courtiers – who have reluctantly tolerated the Islamists – did not block his rise to complete the democratic facade, while keeping the ropes of real power within reach.
The PJD further increased its share of the vote in the subsequent 2016 elections to 125 seats to spend five more years in power.
Poisoned socks
While almost everyone expected the party to reject some votes in the election last week, no one predicted this overwhelming defeat, even the party leader and his deputy lost their seats, prompting his resignation. immediate.
Perhaps it is too early to fully explain the reasons for this dramatic fall. But observers agree that PJD simply has not fulfilled its election promises.
A party that has “justice” and “development” in its name has also failed to deliver, they argue.
For example, he had promised to lift more Moroccans out of poverty, improve public education and health, but did nothing. On the contrary, the gap between rich and poor has simply widened.
In addition, the party has alienated part of its base when it passed a controversial law introducing two-year contracts for teachers, robbing them of job security and some consider them the first step in privatizing the education system.
On the question of the status of the French language in education, a particularly sensitive issue for a party defending Arab-Islamic identity in the former French colony, it could not block a law that would make French a the language of science teaching in schools.
Critics of the party say that once in power he became more realistic than the king, taking the side of the “makhzen” (the term Moroccans used to refer to the king and powerful courtiers and security agencies). against people in key rights and labor disputes. .
Some commentators believe that the party’s biggest mistake was to take responsibility for the government without having the real power, which belonged to the king.
It was like a poisoned chalice.
All this, the change to the electoral law, not proposed by the PJD but approved by parliament in March, also dealt a decisive blow to the party’s chances of securing another major electoral victory.
The reduction of the benchmark for smaller parties and the counting of votes on the basis of all eligible voters instead of only on valid ballots, contributed to the loss of the party.
The party had answered these changes, saying they were unconstitutional, but had not blocked them in parliament.
Actually, the changes were designed to allow for greater plurality, but in reality further fragmented the political landscape, a tactic the makhzen have long used, analysts say, to undermine political parties.
Electoral network?
Regionally, the news of the failure was received with joy.
In Egypt and the Gulf, the party is considered the Moroccan version of the Muslim Brotherhood, a national and transnational political-religious movement that has been designated as a “terrorist” in some countries.
Commentators regarded the fall of PJD as the last key to the coffin of political Islam.
In Morocco, it can be safely stated that the marginalization of the PJD suggests that the makhzen has completely overcome the Arab Spring storm and its immediate consequences.
But the underlying tensions that arise from the search for a truly representative and responsible government or the desire to test the king’s powers have not gone away.
The man appointed by the king to form the new government, Aziz Akhannouch, the billionaire leader of the National Rally of Independents (RNI), who won the most votes, has said his government will work to “implement the ‘king’s strategy’.
Commenting on the statement, veteran Moroccan journalist Hamid Elmahdaouy wrote that all former prime minister-designates had said the same.
He wondered what the meaning of the election was if “voting and all elections were a farce.”
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