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The election activity in Morocco has intensified with the date for the legislative elections drawing closer. The elections will be held on the 7th of September. The election activity is jointly shared by the political parties and the government. The Moroccan government on its part has allocated the amount of US $60,000 for each political party. A total of 34 political parties have declared that they were ready for the election battles. They have already mobilized their forces and appointed agents for the election lists.
The Justice and Charity Society is invited to turn into a political party:
With the beginning of the month of June, the Socialist Union of Popular forces, the largest leftist party in Morocco, called on the Moroccan Islamic Justice and Charity Party to turn into a political party. The First Secretary of the Socialist union of Popular Forces, Mohamed El Baza’I, said that the Justice and Charity Society is a force that exists in the Moroccan society. El Baza’I, who was reviewing the preparedness of his party for the legislative elections on 7 September, said that we hope that this society would turn into a political party that respects the Moroccan constitution and the Political Parties law.
Warnings against the election militias:
The Moroccan Justice and Development Party has warned against the rising power of the election militias before the legislative elections are held. The warning of the Islamic party was made after two of its parliamentary deputies were the target of recurrent assaults in the city of Fez in the northeastern part of the country. The party accused the mayor of the city, Hameed shubat, of the Istiklal party of manipulating dangerous gangs against field visits made by prominent members and deputies of the Justice and Development Party.
An additional electoral commission and printing the new voters ballots:
The government authorities have pointed out that the review process has led to the registration of an additional election general assembly of more than 1,553,000 new voters, including 17,000 new voters who were registered by the Moroccan embassies and consulates abroad. There is also an intention to activate more legal measures to clean the election lists and to make sure that they are proper and free of all mistakes, particularly the repetition of names. It was decided to place the election lists under control for all the urban and rural groups of the kingdom during the period from 30 May until 26 June. After the election lists become completely ready, it becomes possible to move on to the last phase of the process of determining the electorate by printing the new voters’ ballots which will be used for voting.
24 million dollars for financing the elections and a sharp competition:
The Moroccan government has allocated US $24 million for financing the campaigns of the political parties which are expected to undergo an acute competition among the party leaders that have diverse term references and leanings. The government has announced the allocation of a first payment of UD $60,000 for each party. According to the law in force, this amount of money could be doubled depending on the results of the elections, the number of votes and seats won, because the losing party would be requested to refund the funds that were given to them or part of them to the State if they fail to secure the stipulated results.
34 parties are preoccupied with the preparations for elections:
In preparation for the elections, the 34 political parties are putting their house in order and appointing agents for their electoral constituencies according to their internal bylaws and regulations which differ from one party to another. There are parties which follow the system of appointment by their central offices and there are parties which follow the system of the internal democratic elections to choose the agents of their lists.
Hot confrontations:
Some of the internal arrangements of the political parties in choosing the agents of their lists have produced results that forecast hot confrontations among senior political figures. In one of the constituencies of the capital city of Rabat, competition will be held among leading figures of the parties of the left, center and right. In another constituency, leading figures of the socialist, Islamist and rightist parties will compete.
The government continues to regulate the election publicity and the presence of international observers:
As part of the continued preparations for the legislative elections, a meeting was held at the premises of the interior Ministry. It included government representatives and a number of the leaders of the political parties to discuss how to prepare for the elections. The conferees discussed a number of focuses, including the recent extraordinary review of the election lists and the preliminary conclusions of the election process. They commended the effective role played by the various parties to motivate the citizens to register their names in the election lists.
A number of measures which the government intended to take were declared. The aim of these measures was to provide the necessary guarantees for making the upcoming legislative elections succeed and to empower the political parties to run for these elections under ideal conditions, particularly as regards the financing of the election campaigns. Therefore, an overall amount of 200 million Dirhems was allocated by the government as the State contribution to the financing of the election campaign, an increase of 50 million Dirhems from 2002.
All the political parties participating in these elections will benefit from an extra appropriation of 500,000 Dirhems in addition to a sum of money that would be computed on the basis of the number of votes and seats which each party won during the legislative elections of 2002 with the aim of activating the electoral process and guaranteeing its fairness so as to give credibility to these elections.
The National grouping of Moroccan liberals did not name its candidate:
Mustafa al-Mansouri, president of the National Grouping of Liberals, which is a majority in government, has declared that the Grouping has not named its candidates for the upcoming legislative elections and that the reason for the delay was due to the fact that the party committee that was entrusted with granting the wining by acclaim did not hold its meetings as yet although the names of 80 per cent of the candidates have become known. Al-Mansouri added that his party is now undergoing an important transitional phase proceeding in the direction of consolidating the democratic practice within the party, particularly after the convocation of the recent fourth congress of the party which elected a new leadership and 800 members of the National Assembly along with 400 members of the Central committee. He pointed out that it was a new experiment for his party compared to the past three decades when the political process was handled in a traditional method.
A war of words between the Istiklal and Justice parties:
A war of exchanged accusations broke out between the members of the Istiklal party and justice and development Party as the legislative elections were drawing near. A source at the Istiklal Party has said that the Justice and development Party was manipulating the preachers of the mosques in the elections and accused it of exploiting religion for private benefits, a step which was the first of its kind. Meanwhile, the Moroccan Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs addressed a memo to the preachers of the mosques and religious guides telling them that they should resign from their posts if they wanted to nominate themselves in the upcoming legislative elections. The memo also prohibited them from participation in any activity that promotes any of the candidates. It said that all the preachers and Imams should avoid everything that might be understood that it was part of an election campaign in favor of any candidate in the September elections. The memo warned against the violation of the instructions contained in the memo and threatened that any person who violates the instructions would be relieved of his post as a preacher or Imam.
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