Descontento ante la falta de democracia interna en el Partido Justicia y Desarrollo
Following the defeat of the Justice and Development Party in the legislative, regional and municipal elections on 8 September, its Secretary General, Saad Eddine El Othmani, together with the entire leadership of the party, announced their resignation en bloc. This electoral defeat put an end to a decade of government by the Islamists, who, close to the ideological sphere of the Muslim Brotherhood, came to power in the context of the Arab Spring and managed to win three different elections by a landslide.
Some of the policies that most boosted the loss of popularity of the former head of government, El Othmani, were the normalisation of diplomatic relations with Israel - within the framework of the Abraham Accords -, the reinforcement of French in education and the legalisation of cannabis for medical purposes. Many of these measures were totally contrary to the party's ideology. Moreover, the quasi-religious adherence to the directives of the monarch Mohammed VI, together with the difficulties arising from the coronavirus health crisis, led the PJD to abandon power, which is now held by the National Rally of Independents (RNI).
In this context, last October, after an extraordinary congress was held to choose a new secretary general, the charismatic and popular former president of Morocco, Abdelilah Benkirane, returned to the leadership of the PJD. The politician was appointed by an overwhelming majority - more than 81% of the votes - as the person in charge of resolving internal discrepancies and improving the party's position on the national political stage.
However, Benkirane's arrival in the party - which brought with it high expectations for the restoration of 'internal democratic mechanisms' - has proved disappointing for the party's grassroots ranks and members. PJD members had expected the announcement of a clear date and programme for the party's next ordinary congress, scheduled for December. However, the position of the new Secretary General has been to give himself an open mandate, in which the date of the national conference has not yet been fixed. This attitude has been denounced by various members of the organisation, who maintain that it directly affects internal democracy and deliberation on the functioning and management of the party.
As reported by the Emirati media Al-Ain News, several sources within the Justice and Development Party itself have questioned Benkirane's "blackmail", accusing him of positioning the PJD's supporters and members in a dilemma. Either they opt for a "bad" leader (who continues to develop his policy of controlling the party and excluding its dissidents), or for a "worse" one (who ends up leaving the PJD without parliamentary representation); without considering, in either case, the entry of young and renewed figures into the party's leadership.
In this way, the secretary general has promoted himself as the "saviour" of the Islamic party in the face of September's electoral failure, although he seems to be positioning himself as subordinating all decisions to his own authority.
However, Abdelilah Benkirane's strategy has changed considerably since he left the presidency of the Kingdom in 2017. Whereas his stance at the time was rather distant from the Moroccan royal house - which won him popular support during the 2011 and 2016 elections and was clearly demonstrated in a 2016 interview where he stated that he was 'not obliged to please the king, only God who created me and my mother' - the secretary is now trying to present the party in a somewhat more moderate light. Thus, Benkirane intends to follow a path that is somewhat closer to the Monarchy, responsible and without so much media noise.
