A moderate Islamist group that had the third-highest number of seats in Morocco's lower chamber of Parliament expects to be the biggest beneficiary in the country's parliamentary elections, held Friday. Counting in the election is under way, but news agencies have reported a low turnout.
Thirty-three political parties are competing for 325 seats in the House of Representatives. Although no single party is likely to emerge as winner, observers see the Justice and Development Party (PJD), which went into the election with 42 seats, as the potential favorite. It ran against the ruling coalition, which comprised the Socialist Union of Popular Forces (USFP) and the Party of Independence, Istiqlal.
Government figures indicate that slightly more than half the population (15.5 million people) registered to vote in the North African country that brands itself as a constitutional monarchy. Three thousand observers, including 52 from other countries, were deployed across the country. Thirty of the seats in the lower chamber are reserved for women.
This is the second parliamentary election since King Mohamed VI took power eight years ago following the death of his father, King Hassan II.
In his eighth-year anniversary speech in July, Mohamed VI called on all Moroccans to make sure these elections are "a new opportunity to strengthen democratic normality." He urged voters to disregard "those who doubt the use of elections and the necessity of political parties," in an indirect rebuke aimed at revolutionary movements such as Al Adl Wa Al Ihssane (Justice and Charity).
Founded during the reign of the late Hassan II, Justice and Charity is today the most influential Islamist group in Morocco, although it is not officially recognized. Statements on the movement's website call for an end to monarchical rule in Morocco, to be replaced by "an Islamic Covenant." This type of government would blur the current separation between religion and state, which they see as "purely functional." However, Justice and Charity promises to preserve the rights of religious minorities.
PJD, on the other hand, has adapted to the contemporary political landscape by choosing to participate in the current constitutional system. But Justice and Charity's uncompromising stand may deny PJD the upper hand in the next parliament, as both movements cater to arguably similar constituencies.
In a possible attempt to create a link in voters' minds between the two Islamist organizations, five parties of the ruling coalition last Monday issued a joint statement condemning "extremism and terrorism," although they stopped short of mentioning any names.
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Common themes during the campaign period included economic growth, job creation (especially for the youth) and national security. The ruling coalition carefully avoided two sensitive issues in their electoral platform: the relationship between the king and the government, and the question of human rights, particularly in the context of Western Sahara.
For three decades, the former Spanish colony has been contested territory between Morocco and the Polisario independence movement, whose government was recognized by the Organization of African Unity (now the African Union) in 1982, prompting Morocco's withdrawal. A United Nations peacekeeping mission – the longest-lasting in Africa – has kept relative peace since 1991, although some 90,000 Saharans remain in refugee camps, and Morocco retains its grip on the area.
Earlier this week Reporters Sans Frontières sent a letter to Mohamed VI, who calls himself "a citizen-king," blaming him for a regression in press freedom, citing multiple arrests and convictions of reporters.
