Morocco operates under a framework of parliamentary constitutional democracy, whereby the prime minister is the head of Government and a multi-party system.The cabinet consists of the Council of Ministers appointed by the Prime Minister, who is in turn appointed by the hereditary Monarch. The 1996 Constitution of Morocco is based largely on the French model of 1958 but with more emphasis on the executive.

The bicameral Parliament consists of a democratically elected Chamber of Representatives whose functions are mirrored and effectively controlled by the unelected Chamber of Counsellors. This is in contravention of Article 25 of the ICCPR, as interpreted by the UNHRC, and which guarantees the right of every citizen to take part in the conduct of public affairs, either directly or indirectly through elected representatives.

Political Background and context:

Some considered the PJD (Parti De Justice et Development) to be the exception to the general stagnation of the democratic political process, since it had coherent objectives and more internal structural democracy. The main opposition party since 2002, the moderate PRD has been closely monitored by the West Moderate PJD monitored closely by the West because they were seen as a more effective way of infiltrating the political process, as compared with more radical Islamic forces.

International support for the moderate and democratic lines represented by the PJD was illustrated by the head of the ICJ's assertion that Morocco plays an "avant garde role" in promoting peace in the Middle East. But such optimism  may be misplaced since given the constitutional safeguards in place, it is unlikely that a single country can influence the political process in any meaningful way. This skepticism was of course confirmed and compounded given the less than overwhelming electoral success of the PJD in the most recent elections.

2007 Elections in focus: a mixed response

There has been international praise for the Moroccan elections voiced by some members of the international community. These include the ones expressed by the French president Mr. Nicolas Sarkozy: "At this time when Morocco has just successfully run another general election, I would like to extend to Your Majesty, the political parties and Moroccan people my most sincere congratulations and express my admiration for the democratic robustness your country has once again demonstrated." and EU Security Chief Javier Solana statement that the most recent elections were a "strong sign of the country's continued commitment to the process of democratization."

However, numerous local and international NGOs have declared their disappointment in these elections. They have brought the attention to several cases of corruption, the buying of votes, the constant lack of transparency and the favoritisms that certain candidates enjoyed. Local observers complained that "the honesty of the elections was compromised by pressure exerted on large sectors of the electorate, in particular by the illicit use of money, merchandise and promises," a group of 617 Moroccan associations said. This was collaborated by the Berlin-based Democracy Reporting International (DRI) who claimed that even though the polls were more transparent than the previous ones, the final results could be put to question as no detailed vote count for each constituency has been published.

These accusations of corruption have been dismissed by the interior minister, Chakib Benmoussa, who insisted that the elections were transparent but said the government would look into charges of vote buying. “We took every measure to…protect the election process from any illegal influence,” he said. “We are ready to look at any complaint backed by evidence.” Until this date, there has been any official released confirming or rejecting these charges.

While large international election observation missions have carried out detailed analyses of electoral frameworks around the world, such missions have not usually been invited to observe elections in most Arab countries, leaving a knowledge gap on the details of electoral arrangements and possible improvements.

Women

The issue of women in Parliament has returned to centre stage in Morocco following the country's recent legislative elections. In 2002, women were elected to 35 of the lower house of the Moroccan legislature's 325 seats; on September 7th, 2007, only 34 were selected. This could partly be explained by the sexism which still governs Morocco, even woman themselves continue to believe that politics is still the man's domain. According to Magharabia "during the campaign, challengers would not think twice about attacking candidates because they were women, to discourage the electorate from voting for them. The message came through loud and clear: do not vote for a woman." As in most Arab countries there is a pressing need for the government to take bold measures to strengthen the role of woman in politics and in society in general. Bassima El Hakkaoui, who heads the national list for the Justice and Development Party argues that in order to promote the place of women in politics, quotas should be considered for each political party at the local level, and more women candidates should be fielded in constituencies where they have stronger chances of success. More efforts and support should be obtained from the political parties themselves as statistics from the 2007 elections showed once more that political parties are not willing to back their female members. As an example of this is the fact that women figured at the heads of just 3% of electoral lists and just 5% of the total number of candidates.

Poor turnout

An incident that has marked this legislative election has been the astonishingly low turnout; according to interior ministry results released on the weekend the attendance was of only 37 per cent, a sign that Moroccans have little faith in elections or on political parties. According to the Financial Times, in a country where the monarch, King Mohammad, holds the main levers of power, parliament and elected governments are seen as weak and ineffective institutions. Abdelkader Amara, a PJD member of parliament suggested that “citizens do not show any interest in what is happening, since the political parties, political life and institutions do not take into account the needs of ordinary people.” And Law professor Chakib Badraoui has posited that the low turnout was due primarily to the fact "big parties like the USFP and Istiqlal are no longer doing their former job of raising public awareness."

According to the 2007 report issued by Democracy Reporting International (DRI) there has been a marked political liberalization over the last 15 years in Morocco but significant progress has not necessarily led to an increase in the democratization of governance.

The King and his executive, whom he appoints, still dominate much of the political life of the country and the policies to be implemented in the country, leaving little room for decision making to the elected parliamentary. The absence of a parliamentary tradition in Morocco and the long standing practice of concentration of power in the executive has further weakened the political parties authority and has intensify the disillusion of the people, who's trust in their rulers and political system is low.

The DRI observed that elections in Morocco have had a long history of irregularities and interference by the executive, but there was some progress by way of increased transparency in the 2002 elections. The true measure of electoral significance would depend not only on the electoral process itself but the capacity of the Parliament to exercise a more active role in formulating national policies.

The Future and Proposals for reform:

The following issues are what the DRI view as needing to be addressed in the electoral framework: (1) the effective implementation of, and laws regulating, the publication of election results breakdown, (2) recognition of non-partisan electoral monitoring, (3) a revision of the ratio of voters/seats which varies from region to region according to the discretionary powers of the Executive, a violation of the principle of equality of the vote (art 25b ICCPR). (4) More detailed rules governing campaign financing, and equal access to media.

As to the future of the PJD, according to Maghreb Arabe Presse, the PJD does not rule out participating in Government. Despite not winning a landslide victory as predicted the PJD leader said that the party was "open to all eventualities" that will come under scrutiny "in light of the coming developments."

Sources:

1. http://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/en/country-files_156/morocco_285/france-and-morocco_3181/legislative-elections-in-morocco-10.09.07_9794.html
2. www.magherebia.com
3. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/5ae17492-5ed5-11dc-837c-0000779fd2ac.html
4. http://www.map.ma/eng
5. http://www.zeenews.com/znnew/articles.asp?aid=329099&sid=WOR
6. Assessment of the Electoral Framework of Morocco, 24^th January 2007, Democracy Reporting International