La dimisión de un exdirigente del PJD agrava la crisis interna del partido

The former Moroccan Minister of Equipment, Transport, Logistics and Water, as well as a member of the Justice and Democracy party, Aziz Rabbah, is preparing to launch a series of consultations in July, which will lead to the creation of a broad civil initiative under the name of the Association for Competence and Initiatives (Rowad).

The creation of this initiative raises the question of whether the Justice and Democracy party is going through an internal crisis that openly divides the Islamist party's interests. According to Moroccan sources, Rabbah is trying to make his project a success. They also claim that the former minister would like to create a separate political party, which would aggravate the internal crisis.

However, according to statements issued by Rabbah in the Moroccan media, "the initiative will not be at the expense or against any party, especially the Justice and Development Party".

He also indicated "the incorrectness of the rumours spread that my moves are aimed at attracting members of the party". He further noted that he did not offer "to join the organisation to any of my close associates except in response to enquiries from them in this regard after learning about it or my activities." 

According to statements to Al Arab by political science researcher Hisham Amiri, "the Rabah Civil Initiative is reminiscent of the Movement for Democracy initiative that emerged after the low political turnout in the 2007 legislative elections to a political party that is now PAM". 

He states that "the same applies today to the Rabbah initiative, which came directly after the defeat of the Justice and Development Party in the last elections, and therefore this movement can become a political party in the future if it sees that there is a political environment".

All this comes at a time when Rabbah reportedly left the Justice and Democracy party, claiming that he "has no intention of returning to party work under the current leadership".

With Benkirane's return to the leadership of the Islamist party, the former minister ceased to exercise his functions within the party. The party secretary himself claimed Rabbah's dismissal was due to "differences between them".

Several members of the Justice and Development Party such as Saad Eddine El Othmani, Rabah, Lahcen Daoudi, Mustafa Ramid and Mohamed Amkraz are reportedly looking for other personalities for the party's leadership after Benkirane's policies.

In this regard, Rabbah had previously declared that he had resigned from the PJD because "he no longer had anything to offer the party" and that now was "the time to put his experience at the service of the country from other positions".

This is not the first time that the Islamist party has been faced with resignations, a scenario that increases and aggravates the party's ongoing political crisis. This situation is also reflected among Moroccan citizens, who expressed their rejection of the Islamist party in the last elections, held last September, after it won only 12 seats out of the 395 that make up the House of Representatives.