Another ‘soul’ for Morocco

Kings are born free but they are everywhere in chains. Forget Europe’s cycling monarchs, with their constitutional (and bicycle) chains. Think of Mohammed VI, scion of the Alaoui dynasty that has ruled Morocco since 1664: King of Morocco and “Commander of the Faithful”, whose palace’s operating budget is reported, according to Forbes magazine, to be $960,000 a day (yes, a day), mainly due to clothing and motor maintenance expenses.

It remains to be seen whether this new formula... will lead to the ‘gentle revolution’ promised...- Ranier Fsadni

And, yet, on Tuesday evening, Mohammed VI was obliged to nominate Abdelilah Benkirane, leader of Morocco’s Islamist party, as the country’s new Prime Minister. Up until this year, it was the king’s prerogative to choose the Prime Minister, no matter the election results.

Also up until this year, the king’s person was constitutionally considered “sacred”. Now “the integrity of his person” is merely “inviolable”.

Such constitutional changes came through in September, following a July referendum, in which Mohammed VI gave up some of his near-absolute political powers in an attempt to fend off the radical uprisings happening elsewhere in the Arab world. The elections due in September 2012 were brought forward by almost a year.

The prerogative to choose the Prime Minister was abetted by an electoral system designed to make it near impossible for any single party to obtain more than 20 per cent of the vote. Mr Benkirane’s Justice and Development Party obtained over a quarter of the vote in last Saturday’s election, winning 107 of the 395 parliamentary seats, against an alliance of secular parties generally assumed to be “close” (to use a metaphor widely current in Morocco) to the king. The second-placed, nationalist Independence Party obtained 60 seats, almost half the JDP’s number.

Inevitably, however, there is more than meets the eye.

Even while the JDP was on course for victory, the king and his men – in particular the baltaja, the thuggish enforcers – were doing their best to legitimise the election.

The turnout in the first election held during Mohammed VI’s reign, in 2002, was 51.6 per cent, reflecting perhaps the hopes held out by a new monarch (who ascended to the throne in 1999) who promised to alleviate poverty and wipe out corruption. Five years later, the turnout dropped to 37 per cent. Last Saturday, the turnout went up to 45.4 per cent.

Leaders of the February 20 protest movement, which, along with other Arab Spring movements, wanted deep reforms, were urging a boycott of the polls. Their argument was that the constitutional reforms did not go far enough. It has been reported that members of the movement were harassed and some 100 members arrested.

What does the victory of the JDP represent for Morocco and its king?

Its results have improved dramatically from that of the 1997 election, when it obtained only eight seats. These went up to 42 in 2002. This year’s results represent over a doubling of the 47 seats won in 2007.

The JDP began life with a programme known for its opposition to summer music festivals and the sale of alcohol. With a new leader since 2008 it switched its emphasis to eradicating corruption and poverty.

In an interview that Mr Benkirane gave to the French newspaper Le Parisien, he said he did not aim to become Prime Minister in order to tell Moroccan women how many inches of skirt they should wear. Matters of religion, he reminded the interviewer, still remained within the purview of the king. The party would steer clear of imposing a strict moral code.

His party’s focus would be to give another “soul”, or character, to Morocco, which would tackle education, housing, poverty and corruption. His party’s platform promised to halve poverty and double the minimum wage.

It should come as no surprise that his party is largely supported by the country’s poor. And while contemporary western experience suggests that political parties win elections by addressing the middle classes, Morocco is a country with 8.5 million destitute (out of a total population of 33 million) and youth unemployment of 30 per cent.

Also noteworthy is what Mr Benkirane does not question: the position of the king as a figure that is central to Morocco’s stability. The constitutional changes still leave the final decision in matters concerning the economy, religion and security in the monarch’s hands. In a country where the king is the most powerful private entrepreneur as well as in charge of the public sector, that is concentrated power indeed.

Mr Benkirane has also said he is willing to share power with the Socialist and Independence parties, which were prominent in the outgoing government and are considered to be close to the palace. It is for such reasons that Mr Benkirane, leader of the pro-monarchist faction in his own party, is considered by some to be “in the pocket” of the king as well.

It remains to be seen whether this new formula for Morocco’s government will lead to the “gentle revolution” promised by its proponents, a third way between the status quo and radical revolution, or whether, should it fail, it will exhaust popular patience with piecemeal reforms.

ranierfsadni@europe.com