The European Council on Foreign Relations

Morocco votes

Date: 25th November 2011  |  Author: Susi Dennison ,

Categories: Rule of law, democracy and human rights, Middle East and North Africa,
Tags: algeria , arab spring, egypt, tunisia, morocco

Morocco is voting: the first elections (this time legislative) since the approval of the new constitution this summer.  Dr Ahmed Herzenni, a member of the commission which drafted this new constitution, and a former political prisoner under King Hassan II, came to speak at a small round table that ECFR hosted last week and argued that these elections marked an important moment for Morocco’s gradual march towards democracy because the new constitution solved the questions around lack of governmental legitimacy that the 20^th February movement had been raising.

And yet, last Sunday saw thousands of protestors out on the streets in Rabat and Casablanca calling for a boycott of the elections, arguing that the new constitution changed nothing in reality and elections would just perpetuate a political system badly in need of reform. Although the new Moroccan constitution devolves a number of powers to the Parliament, it leaves the King with responsibility for ‘spiritual and physical security’ of the country and therefore ultimately, argue the protestors, with the levers of control.

This weekend’s protests in Morocco  were nothing like the violent clashes seen in Tahrir Square in Egypt over the past few days, which have left over 26 people dead and thousands injured, but the message was the same. The protest movements were not prepared to have the progress that they thought they had achieved this year stolen by a government that reinterprets their message, and leaves promises of reform unfulfilled.

Leaving aside the limitations or otherwise of the new constitution, Morocco’s protestors have been consistently communicating a much broader political message over the last 6 months than the need for constitutional reform. There is deep disillusionment with a political structure in which all the political parties are viewed as being part of the establishment and no new generation of party activists is emerging.  Corruption remains pervasive and perceptions among the Moroccan population are that it has increased in recent years. There is also profound concern about the socio-economic situation in the country - levels of unemployment, particularly youth unemployment, are high;  literacy rates low, and Morocco lacks the natural resources to bring money into the coffers that Algeria or Libya can boast of.

These issues have been persistently raised in the demonstrations that the 20^th February movement has been organising throughout the year, and so it is hardly surprising if they are now arguing that a new constitution with limited changes, and an early round of elections, is insufficient by way of response. Of course, solving questions as big as this will take time, and political will, as well as innovative policy solutions and international support: all of which have been so far in short supply. But the situation in Cairo today should serve as a warning to the Moroccan government too that the simple process of elections will not be enough to buy social peace.  If the promise of change is exposed as being empty then the Moroccan people will not continue to give the King the benefit of the doubt indefinitely.

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