Morocco’s Islamist Justice and Development Party were elected to lead the country’s government a decade ago, causing great excitement. After implementing electoral reforms, the aftermath of the Arab Spring protests swept both the Middle East and North Africa. Morocco’s Islamists Justice and Development Party became the largest in the country’s parliament.
The party suffered a crushing defeat in parliamentary elections because voters were dissatisfied with the country’s unemployment and corruption. North Africa voted for a party close to the royal palace, combined with the 12 seats lost from its 125 seats that left the party in eighth place a decade ago, slowed the party’s demise.
With no rational explanation for its decline, some blame the party for presiding over its first recession in 20 years, while others accuse it of alienating the country’s most progressive Morocco’s islamists.
For example, in 2019, they chastised a female member of parliament for not wearing un-Islamic clothing, and one voter, Khadija, stated that the party had not created more jobs for young people.
“I voted for the PJD as they made me feel they represented people from different class backgrounds. I thought we would have seen an improvement in society, but I feel that the rich-poor divide is getting bigger,” Khadija expressed her dissatisfaction.
With over 395 seats in parliament, the Islamists’ failure to address inequalities and revive an economy that shrank 6% last year drew a lot of criticism. After dealing with the pandemic, King Mohammed VI received praise and an act that solidified his position within Morocco’s constitutional monarchy.
King Mohammed VI’s fifteen-year plan to reduce economic inequality and boost job creation could help the king in Algeria’s on-again, off-again conflict over the disputed Western Sahara and secure funding from Persian Gulf allies.
The Independent National Rally (RNI), led by billionaire Agriculture Minister Aziz Akhannouch, secured 97 seats with the most seats, followed by the Authenticity and Modernity Party (Pam), with 82 seats that have close ties to the monarchy.
Since the founder of RNI is his father’s brother-in-law, the late King Hassan II and Fouad Ali Eli Himma, an advisor and former schoolmate of the monarch, established PAM.
The PJD did not win it in 2011, with only 12 seats, or less than 10% of its headquarters in the 2016 elections. Since the Islamist party’s 2011 uprisings toppled long-time dictators and raised hopes of a new era of political openness and economic prosperity, there is room for the party to redeem itself as a coalition partner in government or resume its role in opposition.
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