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Morocco's Local Elections: with a Little Help from My Friend

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Morocco's Local Elections: with a Little Help from My Friend CIDOB • Center for International for CIDOB • Center Relations and Development Studies notesISSN: 2013-4428 internacionals CIDOB MOROCCO’S LOCAL ELECTIONS: 03 WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MY JUNE 2009 FRIEND Eva Wegner Visiting Fellow, CIDOB Miquel Pellicer Researcher, UAB st June 2009. The first day of the two weeks of of- to cover different neighbourhoods. From time to time, one also ficial campaign time Morocco accords to its political sees a car with posters of the list of candidates for a city council. parties before elections. The country’s most power- In a virtually empty party bureau in Larache, a northern city of ful 1politician, King Mohammed VI is abroad. He follows the Morocco, the candidate still awaits, among other things, prints elections – as a sign of his ostensible neutrality – from Paris. The latest regime Authenticity and Modernity (PAM), wins the elections party, Authenticity and Modernity (PAM), nicely (21.7% of the seats). The participation rate is, at 52%, not merged in the symbol of the “tractor”, holds it in- embarrassingly low as in the parliamentary elections of augural campaign meeting in a big hall in Casablanca. 2007 The party’s leader, Fouad Ali Al Himma, known in Morocco simply as l’ami du roi does of the party program. In the evening, a small demonstration of not appear in the scene. Allegedly, he is in Paris to meet the the Islamist Party of Justice and Development (PJD) passes by, King. The audience of the meeting is said to consist mainly of but their animated slogans barely get people in the bars to look people shuttled in by three busses from the poor neighbour- up before concentrating again on the much more important hoods, many hastily dressed up in campaign t-shirts. After competition: a qualification match for the football world cup the meeting, they have to walk back. 2010 in South Africa. 7th June. One week before the elections there are only 13th June. The results of the Moroccan municipal elec- scarce signs of campaign activity. The most visible witnesses of tions are announced by the minister of interior, Chakib Ben- the forthcoming elections are little pieces of paper with a party moussa: Authenticity and Modernity (PAM), wins the elec- name and symbol that litter some of the streets, ignored and tions (21.7% of the seats). The participation rate is, at 52%, stepped on by prospective voters, only to be swiped away by not embarrassingly low as in the parliamentary elections of the garbage men in the evening to give way to a new round the 2007. The Party of Justice and Development (PJD), antici- next day. At the origin of this campaign garbage are young men pated winner and surprise loser of the 2007 parliamentary below 20 in campaign t-shirts. These are mostly not party activ- elections is again humbled by winning only 5.4 percent of the ists but paid by individual candidates (around 10 Euro per day) seats. What do these results say about Moroccan politics? notes internacionals CIDOB 03 . JUNE 2009 1 The winners: the regime and its supporters numerous regime parties was especially relevant because a six percent threshold had been introduced for these elec- The Party of Authenticity and Modernity (PAM) is only tions. The new threshold – while being an opposition request the latest attempt to organize and unify supporters to the – is an attempt to stabilize and structure the party system. monarchy in to a political party. Although Moroccan mon- Morocco’s party system has more than 25 parties out which archs have never associated their fate directly with any of most are simply organized around one person and win just the various palace parties, they have always relied on such one or two seats in elections. These parties are unstable, parties to organize their supporters and to implement their lose their parliamentarians to other parties (a phenomenon policy preferences in parliament. The newest vehicle for this known in Morocco as transhumance) - especially to those in purpose was created just a few weeks before the 2007 elec- government. The threshold was likely to eliminate many re- tions. In 2007, the PAM appeared as a surprise creation and gime – and other – parties. A standard municipal council that the media speculated on whether this was actually initiative would at the moment have around 15 parties is now likely of the powers that be or whether the new party reflected a to comprise only 5-6 parties. The new hurdle will make the rift between the Al Himma and King Mohammed VI. Soon, bargaining among parties and between the king and individ- it became clear, however, that the PAM was a regime backed ual political forces more efficient, but it also means that the creation and that its mission was to a large extent to block a regime needs one or two strong parties, not ten small ones. further rise of the Islamist party, the PJD. Since then, the PAM Hence the PAM. has been busy co-opting individual politicians or whole par- ties in parliament and it has lend its support to the weak, and To judge from these elections, the PAM will fulfil its mis- sion well. Its strong showing in the municipal elections The PAM is a regime backed creation, its mission being will generate local support for future candidates for to a large extent to block a further rise of the Islamist the upcoming parliamen- tary elections in 2012. The party, the PJD most serious challenge for the PAM will indeed come not from other parties but highly unpopular, government of Abbas al-Fassi. from the inside, that is, to keep the party together. The PAM may be new, but its politicians are not (more than 60% of the The long list of PAM-predecessors of so called parties of new councillors had already seats from 2003-2009). Being a the administration includes the Front pour la Défense des In- coalition of self-interested notables and businessmen who stitutions Constitutionnelles (FDIC), a coalition comprised of have obviously joined it for personal ambitions may also the Popular Movement, a Berber party of landowners and be the weakness of the PAM. These rather outworn politi- notables, the Parti Démocratique pour l’Indépendance (PDI) and cians will be ready to leave it again if they cannot get enough some individual monarchists created to hinder the victory out of the party. Indeed, this has already happened in some of opposition parties in the first parliamentary elections af- places before the elections where supposed PAM candidates ter independence. Further creations were, for example, the decided that they would run ultimately as “independents”. Rassemblement National des Indépendants (RNI)), founded by Nevertheless, for the time being, the PAM has performed its the King’s brother in law, Ahmed Osman, out of the “inde- role well. pendent candidates” that had won the 1977 elections, as well as one of the RNI’s split-offs, the Parti National Démocrate From the monarchy’s perspective, the second key goal (PND)), or the Union Constitutionnelle (UC). (besides the PAM’s victory) was “to reconcile the voters with the ballot box” a flowery phrase used by Moroccan officials The Moroccan minister of interior – in a statement that for “to increase the participation rate”. While Morocco did can hardly be seen as neutral – linked the PAM’s victory to receive strong praise for its “transparent and democratic” its “dynamic campaign”. Yet, the electoral strength of these elections in 2007 from Western leaders, the abstention rate of so called “parties of the administration” has always been, more than 60% could hardly be overlooked, a plague shared first, proximity to the king, the most obvious examples be- by other authoritarian regimes in the region, for example its ing the RNI and the PAM. Proximity to the pouvoir always neighbour Algeria. Another abstention rate along this line attracts both local notables and especially the rural and/or would have compromised the credibility of elections which poor voters that see this proximity as a necessary condition are a relevant tool to legitimize the institutions of a de-facto to help them with all sorts of problems. Second, regime par- authoritarian monarchy. Thus, citizens were told that it was ties always benefit from direct or indirect electoral support, their duty to vote. Moreover, sit-ins, organized by Annahj Ad- in the past more obvious through outright electoral fraud, dimocrati (Democratic Way), a party that called for a boycott more recently through gerrymandering and tolerance of vote of the elections unless the constitution was reformed, were buying. Moreover, the PAM as other regime parties assem- banned by the authorities; in some sit-ins that were held, po- bles large amounts of prosperous candidates that can finance lice forces injured several people, some heavily. their own campaign – legally, and illegally. The actual declared participation rate of 52.4% in these The current municipal elections were the first real elec- elections came as a relief to the authorities and was strongly toral test for the PAM. Its success and its capacity to unify highlighted by the minister of interior in his declaration of 2 notes internacionals CIDOB 03 . JUNE 2009 the official results. Yet, the participation rate is hardly a sign In the previous municipal elections of 2003, held a few of interest and trust of Moroccan voters in the political class. months after the Islamist terrorist attacks of 16 May 2003 First, just as in 2007, the 52% do not take into account the in Casablanca, it appeared as a political choice of the PJD around 7 Million of eligible voters that chose not to register.
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