Mediterranean Politics | Maghreb Reorganisation of the Moroccan Political Landscape a m a

r Mohamed Tozy of certain elite networks and finally, the faintness of o n Professor a the reformist discourse. These phenomena are expe- P University of Provence, Aix-en-Provence rienced as a failure by the government, which aimed at restructuring the political landscape and renew- In this paper, I will attempt to provide an overview of ing the elite. the reorganisation underway in the Moroccan politi-

9 cal system. The latter seems to be unable to break One Moroccan in Five Cast a Blank Vote 0 0

2 out of a sequence of transition, both the monarchy . d e and the elite limiting themselves to dealing with the The wager of lending the electoral process credibil- M present in a context of a loose consensus; a con- ity was certainly successful. The majority of national sensus which settles for the mediocrity of political life observers showed their satisfaction at the conditions and focuses on economic transformation by means under which the 2007 elections took place. However, of major construction projects run by a techno-struc- with a participation rate of 37% and 19% null votes

0 ture operating at best in a defused political landscape –that is, a million voters went to the elections to cast 9 1 that does not involve taking any political risks. This a blank vote (by comparison, the blank votes did not consolidates a duality, a two-speed where surpass 15% in 2002)–, a shadow hangs over these politics cannot be the object of appropriation by elections. The method of counting the votes does not new forces. In any case, this sweet siesta poorly con- allow a distinction between the blank ballots and the ceals a degree of anxiety amplified by certain indica- spoilt ones. The illegibility of the political structure tors that relate as much to the dwindling of reformist dominated by the King is not the only factor involved. enthusiasm as to popular demands, less and less The fact that 19% of the electorate made the effort controlled by political organisations. The incidents of going to the polling stations and casting a blank at Séfrou and later Sidi Ifni, as well as transport sec- vote can also be ascribed to indecision in the face tor strikes, announce the emergence of local figures of a weak political offer where the national issues of a mafia type or radicals free of all political control. were secondary to local issues, and above all, the fact that the issue of societal divisions was not includ- ed among the campaign topics. The task of decon- Elements of Political Stalemate structing the ambivalent social project proposed by the monarchy was not carried out. The fact that the The political scene over the past two years allows partisan elite balk at choosing or at least making its certain significant conclusions to be drawn which commitment explicit has contributed to draining the are perceived as a major risk, including by the monar- elections of meaning. chy. Indeed, signs of this concern can be found in different speeches made by the King before parlia- The Failure of the Left ment or during the Feast of the Throne. They con- sist of the discrediting of politics revealed by low This statement, which could seem exaggerated, needs voter participation rate, the failure of the Left, the to be qualified. When I speak of failure, I am not call- advance, though timid, of the Islamists and their inabil- ing into question the importance of the experience ity to handle the Salafist challenge, the persistence of the change-over in government. It marks a turning point on the symbolic level insofar as it has largely urban areas, namely Médiouna (8.5%) and Nouaceur contributed to normalisation of political life and, by (7.9%) and nearly mediocre ones in certain provinces the same token, has gotten the country out of the rela- where the State had been putting all efforts for some tions of defiance that characterised relations among ten years into what is commonly called participative parties of the national movement and the monarchy. development projects: Al Haouz (5.6%), Figuig (1.4%), Its importance resides as well in the level of exem- Al Hoceima (2.4%) and the Sahara area, where a pol- plarity of the experience, which has demonstrated icy of aid is organised through the intervention of local that the narrow margins of political action and the elite endorsed by the administration. The PJD also imbalance of powers between the monarchy and has a hard time penetrating into rural regions with a the parties do not prevent a political force with a vision strong elite structure where certain individuals have of its own from marking its passage in government cultivated their fiefs for many years (Taza, Boulmane,

by lending public policy implementation a specific ori- Azilal, Taroudant – Mountain Zone). a m a

entation. It is hard to deny that the first and second r o n

terms of the Abderrahman Youssoufi administration The Persistence of Notables in Turbans a weighed upon the country’s political orientations and P contributed to establishing the idea of a bicephalous The dilemma of Moroccan power is that it elicits polit- aspect within the bloc in power. This qualification ical vocation, a form of leadership which partici- being made, nothing prevents us from pointing out pates in the administration of public affairs without that among the governmental majority, the Socialist being certain of durably changing its orientation. This 9 0 0

Union of Popular Forces (USFP), which is the party is the competence of the monarchic branch of power, 2 . d that embodied the changeover via the former oppo- and by extension, the court. In order to fully compre- e M sition’s accession to power in 1999, is also the only hend the issues at stake at the 2007 elections, it is party for which the sanction of the ballot has func- a good idea to take a detour back in history in order tioned normally. The conduct of the Finance Depart- to draw up the profiles of the political configurations ment, whose political choice was diametrically and pertinent structures arising therefrom. Since inde-

opposed to the ideological identity, and of budget- pendence, Morocco has experienced three types of 1 9 devouring ministers that would be very difficult to configurations: one favouring the emergence of the 1 reform (national education, justice, social affairs), traditional elite (1956-1983), a second one accom- and the party’s inability to assume government results panying the development of the administration and and provide information about reforms, partially explain the birth of a position-based elite (1983-1999), and the discrepancy between the USFP’s performance finally, as of 1999, the choice of new forms of gov- and the political sanction that facilitated its removal ernance, including formal governance, has fostered from the Prime Minister’s office. the emergence of new profiles essentially produced by civil society and the political ‘equerry’ of the left. The Justice and Development Party: The traditional elite correspond to an ethnically homog- The Media Bubble Bursts enous configuration, with a predominance of capi- talising on lineage as a form of political mobilisation The Islamists of the Justice and Development Party with little intervention from the State. The needs of (PJD), who were slated to win the elections accord- power in this configuration, with its weak institution- ing to all surveys, did not manage to surpass the al regulation, point to a leadership with an arbitra- threshold of 10.9% in votes and 14% in seats, where- tional function. Recruitment is carried out through the as the Istiqlal Party took first place with 10.7% in consolidation of an extant leadership. It could be con- votes and 15.9% in seats thanks to the effect of sidered, to a certain extent, the same type as the fel- proportionality and the electoral apportionment. The lah who defends the throne. The second type of lead- PJD, however, confirmed its strong presence in pop- ership had its moment of glory after the 1983 elections, ulous, relatively dynamic coastal urban areas from with the creation of new parties that came to repre- Tangiers to , where it attained 23 seats sent a new political elite including technocrats, busi- out of 40. It reached shares of nearly 30% in Fez, nesspeople gaining their wealth through the policy of /Océan, Kenitra-Ville, Casablanca - Hay Hassani, ‘Moroccanisation’, or profiting from the largesse of a Casablanca - Hay Mohammadi and Derb Sultan. It planned economy, compensation policies and the obtained poorer results, on the other hand, in peri- quota system. The 2007 elections were presumably to respond to Thus, Morocco has apparently chosen to substitute this new demand by putting new political personnel the idea of ‘democratic transition’ by the formula ‘con- in parliament. This objective was not attained, how- solidation of the democratic process’, based on the ever, the party leaderships attempting to control the principle that the monarchic nature of the regime is changeover that was underway by controlling the not in contradiction with this option. It has also, accord- process of drawing up the election lists of the com- ing to these documents, opted for the model of a peting parties. Apart from the PJD, parties with a liberal economy by prioritising the role of regulator strong ideological connotation capable of holding of the State. On the geopolitical level, Morocco seems political opinions different from those of the monar- to be opting for an allegiance to the West, the gate- chy chose to minimise the risks and regulate the pres- way being more southern Europe ( and ) sure from their rank-and-file members through scis- than Algeria or the countries, which are seen

a sions or by bringing them into line and preferred to at best as a heritage to be administered. On the m a

r sponsor local elite to prevent any excesses by the level of values, Morocco seems to have chosen ‘the o n

a PJD in major cities. In addition to parties of the tra- values of modernity’, the promotion of responsible P ditional local elite, parties with leftist connotations individuals via the school system, human rights, gen- such as the Front of Democratic Forces party (FFD), der equality, freedom of thought and so on. the Socialist Union of Popular Forces (USFP) and even the Party of Progress and Socialism (PPS) made

9 out alright thanks to a policy of recruiting disenfran- Morocco has apparently chosen to 0 0

2 chised local elite. This state of affairs has created a . substitute the idea of ‘democratic d e divergence between the profile of a member of par- M transition’ by the formula liament and a government minister, who should, in principle and according to the ‘democratic’ method, ‘consolidation of the democratic emerge therefrom. The palace has had to intervene process’, based on the principle with certain symbolic ‘violence’ in order to impose a that the monarchic nature of the

2 casting that suits its policy and force party leader- 9

1 regime is not in contradiction ships to accept the profile of technocrats familiar with the public administration and liable to evolve rapidly with this option and become accomplished politicians. The administration, which believes it is providing an advanced ideological offer by insisting on hearing The Solitude of the Monarchy in the Face public opinion and maintaining a strong relationship of the Faint Reformist Offer with the participative option, does not understand the weak responsiveness of the political class, and at The documentation analysed allows us to present times even its indifference or hostility to these choic- an overview of the strategic choices embraced by a es. It does not manage to enter into debate on these monarchy that has invested effort in serving as political projects or choices of society in order to place spokesperson for a technocratic elite. These choic- the responsibility before public opinion. This incapac- es may be somewhat ambiguous and contradictory, ity weakens the monarchy and challenges it to direct- but they have the merit of existing (or at least they ly confront the potential Yassinite and Salafist oppo- exist in writing). The problem for the administration sition, which constitutes an enormous risk in a globally is that they are invisible and were not debated dur- conservative society. The monarchy cannot bear ing the electoral campaign. Hence, the contents of ambivalence and ambiguity; it requires loyalist inter- the documents published in 2005 and 2006, in par- mediaries in public opinion to foster the reformist dis- ticular the report, “50 Years of Human Development course in a power configuration that does not allow and Perspectives for 2025” (RDH 50) and the report sharing but only subcontracting and specialisation. by the Equity and Reconciliation Commission (IER) Now the monarchy faces three challenges: the tra- should be at the core of the political programmes in ditional elite are no longer managing to pick up sig- competition, insofar as they roughly define the out- nals from the administration; the former opposition lines of a project for society that the political forces is a victim of wear; and finally, the monarchy itself is should have completed or rejected. not succeeding in lending credibility to its political TABLE 4 Political Values According to Level of Education

Koran Primary Secondary Higher None School School School Education Lack of interest in politics 44.8% 27.8% 18.6% 8.2% 4.8% Would like to join a party 7.8% 11.1% 15.2% 7.1% 13.3% Cannot tell the different political trends apart 63.0% 41.1% 35.5% 12.2% 6.0%

Source: RDH50 Enquête nationale sur les valeurs (National Survey of Values), TelQuel, No. 214, February-March 2006.

course. By creaming off the market of technocrats party and the National Itihadi Congress party) total to assist in the diversification of its needs in the sphere 652,650 votes, without including the fidelity and

of intermediation and administration, it has drained democracy movement, which joined the Unified a m a

the sources that would allow the renewal of the elite. Socialist Party. In number of votes, this restructur- r o n

It is in this context that one must consider the low- ing places it far ahead of the Istiqlal Party and the a intensity tremors that the main actors on the political PJD. On the other hand, one can say for certain P stage may have experienced at the respective con- that the party definitely changed its geographical ventions of the Istiqlal Party, the PJD, the USFP and distribution, and that its presence in government the newcomer, the Authenticity and Modernity Party made it lose its traditional urban middle-class elec-

(PAM). torate, bringing it closer to an elite structure that has 9 0 0

allowed it to remain a force in rural regions. It was 2 . d 6th in Casablanca and Tangier, three times less than e M The Crisis the electorate for the PJD, and 5th in Rabat, where- as in rural areas with a well-established elite, it man- The different opinion polls, amplified by the media, aged to secure a certain presence (in Azilal, Chaouia have not ceased to discuss figures highly evocative Ouardigha, El Aaiún and above all, Kelaa Seraghna

of the crisis that parties are undergoing: less than 3% and Gharb Beni Hssen). The party lost its tradition- 3 9 of the Moroccan population are members of a party, al positions in major cities, however. This situation 1 and little more than double that would like to join one. grew worse at the 8th convention held in Bouznika These findings, with the halo of legitimacy lent by ‘sci- in two stages – June and November 2008. The party ence’, quickly turned into an irrevocable judgement was on the verge of collapse. An overhaul of the on the nuisance of political parties and their inability method of electing the party leadership by the list to represent the people. The workings for reforming system would presumably allow the expression of them were begun. After the new law of parties, it the different trends. The first part of the convention became obligatory to hold conventions and have politi- became a war of leaders. The former Secretary Gen- cians abide by a new governance, which posed cer- eral was removed after several months of prepara- tain problems for the better-established structures. tion, yet his successors could not decide to leave the stage, rendering any discussion on ideological renewal or the clarification of relations with the The Socialist Union of Popular Forces government majority impossible. The party, though and the Difficulties of Renewal it analysed its failure, was not able to draw all the necessary conclusions by resolving the dilemma The 2007 election caused the Socialist Union of between a third-rate participation that accentuates Popular Forces (USFP) to go from second to fifth its crisis and a departure from government that would position. The party could have avoided this setback lead to a long desert crossing that some of its older if it had assumed its results, and above all if it had party bosses are not ready to assume. On 7-9 not squandered its human capital through several November 2008, the second part of the conven- split-offs after its 6th convention, confirmed at its tion took place. The party’s national committee, meet- 7th, which has given rise to a party where person- ing on Saturday in ordinary session, had previously al imperatives take precedence over ideals. Indeed, rejected the list system. The convention was to direct- no less than three parties emerged from these split- ly elect the members of the party executive and the offs. These parties (the socialist party, the labour national committee. Abdelwahid Radi emerged vic- torious in a provisional solution renewing former bal- misappropriation of funds. Internal party factors played ances until the 2009 local elections. a significant role in setting the limits for an organisa- tion going from the status of movement to that of polit- ical party. The price of going from a fundamentalist The Justice and Development Party: religious movement playing upon religious sensibili- The Price of Normalisation ty and making the best of a moralising, generalist dis- course targeting a broad spectrum in a conservative The Justice and Development Party (PJD), which is society to a political movement needing to satisfy a presented as the party of the future, the party that specific electorate and above all, reassure its adver- limits itself so as not to dominate political life, also saries, has been relatively high. The party gambled revealed its limitations. Its failure in 2007, whose caus- on not necessarily following its grass roots and rely-

a es we will attempt to explain, led to a mini-tremor at ing on an autochthonous technocracy primarily edu- m a

r the convention (19-20 July 2008). cated at the major local schools. A party that goes o n

a was elected at this convention to the post of Secretary from a tribune-like function without a great deal of P General of the party by 684 votes, against 495 for responsibilities to that of outlining a project for soci- the outgoing Secretary General and 14 votes for the ety is obliged to establish itself as a candidate to third candidate, Abdallah Baha, a party ideologist from power, and the PJD was obliged to make use of a the outset. This surprise outcome seems to be the certain administrative competence in place of piety,

9 result of an internal rebalancing of the main party fac- which has become a secondary criteria. This new 0

0 1 2 tions. It is the result of an alliance between members configuration has obliged the party leadership to . d e of the young, reformist guard of the tajdid (renewal) crack down in three spheres: M activists and a particular sensibility among the his- torical ideologists amenable to the franker forms of • The readjustment of internal balances among the pragmatism/opportunism necessary for establishing three party components. new alliances, but also for going beyond the limits of • The recasting of the party doctrine to respond

4 the consensualism to which Saad Eddine el Othmani to the doubts of political partners and adversaries, 9 1 had accustomed us. To understand these adjust- both internal and international. ments, it would be useful to take a look at events after • The strengthening of the party organisation in order 2007. to allow the mastery of participation of the rank- and-file members in decision-making matters.

Internal party factors played Historically, the party is composed of three factions, a significant role in setting the each with its own particular political culture, the first limits for an organisation going one being the ideologists emerging from the circle of influence of political Islam. They were the founders from the status of movement of the movement, primarily former Islamic chabiba to that of political party activists. This generation, composed of individuals who are more like professional politicians, currently in their fifties, managed to gain elective positions in The explanations of the semi-failure of the PJD in parliament or in the trade union related to the party 2007, which cost Secretary General Saad Eddine beginning in 1997. Its leadership was built on its el Othmani his post, are, in fact, not very convincing. capacity to construe a political project of Islamist One cannot be satisfied with the explanation of the inspiration through an effort of relatively intense doc- role played by the Ministry of the Interior, which alleged- trinal renovation in the eighties and nineties, and which ly influenced the electoral apportionment and the elec- has since slowed down greatly, and by the control of toral system; and much less so with the phenome- activist organisations on the university level. The sec- non decried by everyone of the purchase of votes and ond faction is composed of ulamas and preachers

1 We have borrowed the concept of ‘configuration’ from the works of Norbert Elias (Norbert Elias, La civilisation des mœurs, Paris, Calmann-Lévy, 1973, La Société de cour (unabridged edition) and Sociologie et histoire (inédit en français), Flammarion, 2008); as described by Tabboni as well (Tabboni N. “Norbert Elias: pour une sociologie non-normative” in Tumultes, No. 15, October 2000) who joined the movement as of 1996, in particular, leadership. These measures have blurred the PJD’s people from the jam’yat al mostaqbal al islami, such message and led to the defection of part of the rank as Ahmed Raissouni, who has allowed the basic and file who no longer commune with these men ideology of the Al Islah movement to become con- and their discourse, all the more so since the com- solidated by placing his study on Fiqh al Maqassid petition is rough with the Salafists and Adlists. at its disposal, but who has never been wholly bound Benkirane thus emerges as the right man for the job. by the political dimension of this pragmatic fiqh. He His “historical frailty” immediately places him above allowed himself to remain within the mindset of the the melee to faithfully interpret the real power rela- preaching ulamas who would not accept the com- tions in the field. mitment unless obliged by necessity and who would betray them as soon as the possibility arose. The third

faction, consisting primarily of locally trained tech- The Istiqlal Party: The Annuities of Power a m a

nocrats or entrepreneurs of the pious bourgeoisie, r o n

joined the party in hope of its breakthrough in the The Istiqlal (Independence) Party seems to be the a 2003 local elections. This group, composed of engi- party that has made the most of the prevailing stag- P neers, doctors and pharmacists, has benefited from nation, even if at the price of an incursion against the favours (tazquia) of the party via highly sophisti- democracy inside the party sphere. The Secretary cated mechanisms of creation of candidatures that General and Prime Minister, ’s was would transform cooptation into the democratic choice kept in office and will now serve his third mandate at 9 0 0 of the party’s rank and file. This recruitment has allowed the price of a reform of the statutes at the 15th con- 2 . d the party to renew its image and has lent it the argu- vention held 9-11 January 2009 in Rabat. e M ment of managerial efficiency that it lacked. The admin- The Istiqlal Party, which was present in all adminis- istration of municipalities or urban districts such as trations (even if it rarely directed them), is the best Salé, Temara, Meknes, Casablanca (Barnoussi) thus prepared to use the mechanisms of administration. became a foreshadowing of what the administration It has thus managed to consolidate its positions in

of the country could be like (rationality and technical society through a highly efficient distributive capac- 5 9 efficiency). On the eve of the 2007 elections, the bal- ity that lends it the means to expand the perimeter of 1 ances among components were redistributed. The its electorate. It has also opted for a strategy of min- founding group of ideologists and since then pro- imising risks by giving up any pretensions to leader- fessional politicians preferred to make an alliance with ship in the face of the monarchy and by declaring the technocrats and therefore let go of the move- itself simply an agent executing the monarchic pro- ment’s two significant forces: the tajdidi youth and gramme, which distances it from the ambitions of the preaching ulamas. The separation of the party and the Youssoufi regime, or even those announced by the Movement for Unification and Reform (MUR) was, the government under the technocrat, . in principle, to allow them to keep them at their dis- posal. However, this game led to a loss of status for the militant founders to the benefit of the technocrats, The Authenticity and Modernity Party: not necessarily popular among the party’s rank and A Courtly or Political Phenomenon? file. By placing technical skill and ideological mod- eration in the fore, along the lines of Turkey’s AKP The creation of the Authenticity and Modernity Party (Justice and Development Party), the party was obliged (al-Assala wa al-Mu’assara Party, or PAM) on 8 August to go through the same stages that all reformist par- 2008 was the highlight of the year. In fact, it is an ties go through: restructuring to push the ideologists, agglomeration and not a fusion of five parties. In my in this case, the ulemas, aside or control them; the opinion, it is a political response to the unease, some need to consider possible unnatural alliances and of whose elements are described above. The estab- as a consequence, to put away the piety requirements lishment of a simple association for all the democrats and make commitments that would involve reinter- that was supposed to relay the qualitative advances preting the dogma by walking a fine line between regarding the development of a strategic vision estab- opportunism and pragmatism; marginalisation of the lished in the IER and RDH 50 Reports was not enough. rank and file; and regional conventions with populist The emergence of Al Himma to serve orders or as a consonance to the benefit of the technocratic party risk-taker according to a capacity acquired through proximity sought to anticipate the Prince’s desires The current political before he even conceived of them. configuration points to a The Al Himma phenomenon is at once a court phe- nomenon for the methods of its establishment, its mutation in the system’s forms choice of vocabulary for public relations and its recep- of adaptation when confronted tion, while at the same time, it is a political response with a crisis of the elite to a political configuration threatening the system with running out of elite. The postulate I would like to devel- op in this paragraph to evaluate the current political The hypothesis of an anticipation of the Prince’s configuration points to a mutation in the system’s desires is, therefore, real, yet it does not protect Al forms of adaptation when confronted with a crisis of Himma, insofar as the struggle among courtiers is

a the elite. The point is not in the least to place politi- ruthless. m a

r cal projects or choices of society in competition. In The matter consists of restructuring the political land- o n

a fact, the palace faces two problems: scape by bringing a group of parties into a coalition P that would handle the ‘secular’ aspects of the monar- • Finding a political force that could be the carrier chical project. The least one can say about this coali- of its political offer while respecting the dual tion is that it is ideologically weak and politically requirement of loyalty and autonomy (the same variegated. Indeed, in contrast to the association

9 problem is posed, moreover, by the ulamas). for all the democrats, which has managed to expand 0 0

2 • Controlling the mechanisms of production of new the sphere of possible alliances and capitalise on . d e elite and meeting the demands for new political the dynamic of the IER, the al-Assala wa al-Mu’assara M personnel that could wear the colours of a new Party (PAM) bears in its very name the seeds of an leadership. ambivalence that places it outside of the project of modernisation. Whereas the doctrinal foundation of At the same time, the form of implementing this pol- the Movement for All Democrats has a certain coher-

6 icy raises a series of questions on the capacity of ence, the brief history of the PAM, including its found- 9 1 the system to convince others, beyond the court ration- ing assembly in 2009, strengthens our hypothesis ale, considering that the risk taken by the courtiers of its incapacity to contribute decisively to restruc- is real but not convincing to future partners. turing the political landscape.