Nouri Zyad
2 October 2006
Casablanca — Moroccan expatriates may not be permitted to take part in legislative elections in their home country in 2007. Certain analysts believe this is because the government fears Islamic fundamentalists will make a clean sweep in the poll; others claim that the state is simply not able to meet the logistical challenge of allowing people living abroad to vote.
While King Mohammed the Sixth expressed a wish last year for Moroccans abroad to cast ballots and present candidates in the 2007 election, the interior ministry put out a communiqué three months ago to the opposite effect. This move by the ministry, endorsed by parties that support the government, sparked a debate that is still underway.
Some claim that a French report on Islamic activity has been issued which advises the Moroccan government to revisit its intention of creating electoral constituencies in Europe to allow expatriates to vote -- as this initiative may benefit Moroccan fundamentalists living overseas. Nonetheless, no-one wants to confirm or deny the information in this alleged report.
During a television broadcast in August, Nouzha Chekrouni -- the minister in charge of persons abroad -- denied government was sidelining expatriate Moroccans, saying instead that it was "working to guarantee a transparent (and) democratic participation" in the next elections.
Analysts say the minister is still fighting for the realisation of efforts to allow Moroccan expatriates to stand as election contenders in 2007 -- although she is alone in government on this matter.
Such sentiments have done little to assuage the concerns of organisations for Moroccans living abroad such as the Al Wasl Assocation ("al wasl" being Arabic for "link"). Active in Europe, particularly in France where it is based, this grouping has denounced moves to exclude expatriates from the 2007 vote -- and called on Moroccans living overseas to unite in insisting on participation in the poll.
During the Algerian election of 2002, eight deputies representing Algerians abroad were elected to that country's parliament -- something that puts the recent statements by the Moroccan government on expatriate electoral participation in an unflattering light, says Abdelkerim Belguendouz, a Moroccan academic.
Observers also point out that excluding expatriates from the vote would deprive ten percent of the Moroccan population of its right to choose representatives. Morocco has some 30 million citizens, and those living abroad make up about three million of these, according to the 2004 census.
The large presence of Moroccans in Europe is linked to immigration encouraged by the need for foreign workers for the economic expansion of Europe between the end of the Second World War, and the 1960s and 1970s.
For the moment, the Party of Justice and Development (Parti de la justice et du développement, PJD) is the only Islamic party that is participating in Moroccan politics. The PJD currently has 42 deputies in the Chamber of Representatives, and is considered by observers to be a moderate grouping.
A government source who requested anonymity believes that there is no basis to claims that government is motivated by a fear of fundamentalism. The source notes, in part, that there is simply not enough time to allow the creation of electoral constituencies in the countries where Moroccan expatriates live -- "not forgetting that certain European countries do not want this operation to take place on their soil."
But Hamid Lechhab, a Moroccan university academic living in Austria, rejects this argument -- and also the notion that the expatriate Moroccan community would embrace fundamentalism. He told IPS that those who know Moroccans living abroad are aware of "their contempt for political parties of their country", but that this does not mean the expatriates support fundamentalists.
According to him, persons living abroad "do not have confidence in Moroccan political parties, and in particular those which are in power at present. These parties have not ever shown concern for their fate or political influence, but this does not mean that they (persons abroad) are Islamist sympathisers."
For his part, Ahmed Ghayet, a former counselor of immigration affairs in the French ministry charged with employment and solidarity, says he is "totally against this thesis of an Islamic clean sweep," adding that the only obstacle to allowing an expatriate vote is time.
"I, who have lived in France and know the Moroccan community abroad well -- notably in France -- reject this as the reason for which government is postponing the creation of electoral constituencies in Europe," he told IPS, adding that "at least for a year, we will really not be ready for this large-scale operation."
These debates have prompted some in the Moroccan expatriate community to develop a greater interest in the political life of their states of residence -- and to turn away from their country of origin.
"Why not turn our back to those who turned their back on us in Morocco?" asks Lechhab. "This proposal is in no way a denial of patriotism towards our country of origin."
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