According to French polling service LMS-CSA, 70 percent of polled registered voters consider reducing unemployment the most important issue in the next parliamentary elections, which are scheduled September 7, 2007. Improving health care systems is second on the list yielding 65 percent of the votes followed by fighting poverty at 54 percent and battling corruption at 40 percent. Fighting terrorism, however, is at the bottom of the voters’ list, tied with the Western Sahara dispute with only 20 percent of the voters considering it an important issue in the elections.
• Moroccans are impatient with the government’s plan to improve socioeconomic issues, especially unemployment and poverty. While the Kingdom has been focusing on expanding energy and foreign investment opportunities, a large portion of its civil society has grown weary over deteriorating living conditions.
• National security concerns, such as combating terrorism and fighting over the Western Sahara, have consumed much of the government’s efforts and time, leaving behind a weary civil society desperate for a direct, life-improving change.
• We believe the upcoming elections will reflect the social concerns of the masses and will likely result in a strong moderate Islamist voter turnout.
Morocco Advocates Democracy
King Mohammed VI spoke with conviction when he told his country to “respect the will of the people” and called for a clean and fair election this week. He added, “Participation in democracy is part of a citizen’s responsibilities. Do not give your trust to those who do not deserve it and do not sell your vote. By doing so you give up your constitutional right to vote” (source).
The King wants to advance democracy as a way to compete globally as the most open country in North Africa to win foreign investment and prestige. However, a large obstacle to this advancement is the nation’s deeply entrenched corruption and abuse of power, which severely limits the fight against poverty that affects about 40 percent of Morocco’s 30 million people.
PJD To Make Significant Gains
Although elections in Morocco are mainly designed as an exercise to energize the political process and renew parts of the ruling elite, a strong performance by opposition parties in this year’s elections could potentially shake up politics and give the Rabat parliament a more independent voice. For instance, employment is a top priority for the Party of Justice and Development (PJD), the main opposition party currently occupying 42 out of the 325 seats in parliament. The PJD runs a “moderate Islam” campaign, which Morocco’s secular establishment would like to strengthen as a religion bulwark against the rise of radical Islamists and al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AOIM) jihadists.
The PJD has pledged to reduce unemployment in cities by 12 percent and create 300,000 sustainable jobs every year. The party’s plans focus on the creation of an economy of solidarity based on the redistribution of the wealth allowing companies to be owned by citizens versus the current majority state-owned system.
Elections Will Not Likely Alter Rabat Government
Although the PJD is expected to make gains on September 7th, doing so will create a dilemma for the elite that has ruled Morocco for more than 50 years. If the moderate PJD joins the next government, we believe many disgruntled youth – suffering higher unemployment and mass poverty – will see radical Islamists as their only refuge. On the other hand, if the PJD is left outside the government, it would cast a shadow on Morocco’s young democracy.
The upcoming elections, regardless of who wins the majority share of the vote, will not change much of the core structure of Morocco’s monarchy. The king has the ultimate power as army commander in chief as well as Amir al Moumineen (Commander of the Faithful), to naming the prime minister and vetoing laws. The significance of this year’s election will rest in the voter turnout rate and the public’s ability to come together under a moderate Islamic platform to publicly address its social concerns.