Severe electoral defeat for the PJD in Morocco
It was fairly certain that the ruling Justice and Development Party (PJD), in power for a decade, would be punished at the polls because of the economic crisis resulting from the pandemic and the collapse of tourism in Morocco, but what its leaders did not foresee was the huge debacle it suffered in the parliamentary elections held on Wednesday, simultaneously for the first time with those electing regional and local representatives.
Prime Minister Saad-Eddine El Othmani's party will therefore not be able to receive a third mandate from King Mohammed VI to form a government for the next five years, having won just 12 seats compared to the 125 it had until now in a Chamber of 395 deputies. A brutal setback, which places it in fourth place, far behind the parties that precede it.
The National Rally of Independents (RNI) is in first place, with 97 seats. Its leader, billionaire Aziz Akhannouch, has a close relationship with the Royal Palace. It is followed by the Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM), with 82 seats, which until now was the main opposition party to the moderate Islamists of the PJD. The PAM was formed in 2008 by royal advisor Fouad El Himma, although he resigned from his top party post three years later. In any case, the WFP has always upheld its loyalty and allegiance to the King and his directives in the area of sovereignty as its main hallmark. The Istiqlal (PI) or Independence Party, the country's oldest party, is the third in discord with 78 seats. Approved as a centre-right political formation, the PI is nevertheless considered to be a political formation to the left of both the RNI and the PAM.
According to initial statements by Interior Minister Abdelouafi Laftit, voter turnout (50.35%) exceeded expectations, considering the restrictions imposed by the pandemic, and was seven points higher than the 43% recorded in the previous elections in 2016. The incidents recorded on polling day have been described as "isolated cases" by the interior minister. The PJD, however, has described them as "serious irregularities".
As a novelty, this time the seats in the House of Representatives are calculated on the basis of the number of registered voters and not on the basis of the 18 million people entitled to vote. A peculiarity that only the PJD had opposed, on the grounds that this new way of allocating seats would disadvantage large parties and favour small parties.
Under the new 2011 Constitution, King Mohammed VI will appoint a prime minister of his choice, but from the winning party, the RNI. The new parliamentary make-up represents an initial homogenisation of the Moroccan political spectrum, at a time when the country is facing the rupture of relations with Algeria and is in the process of re-establishing bridges with the Spanish government of Pedro Sánchez.