India run out, GST war on islam, Islamist leader Abdelilah Benkirane as Morocco Premier
20 January 2017
By Dr. Abdul Ruff Colachal
Moroccans have elected new lower house of parliament on 25 November, in the
first national vote since the approval of constitutional reforms in July
billed as laying the foundations for a fully-fledged constitutional monarchy.
Moderate Islamists, as expected, did well the vote after a similar success in
Tunisia's first democratic election a month ago and the Justice and
Development Party (PJD) emerged as the biggest party in Friday's parliamentary
elections.
The Justice and Development Party (PJD) took 107 seats out of the 395 in
Parliament, almost twice as many as the second-place nationalist Istiqlal
party, with 60 seats. The election was held more than a year early, after
pro-democracy demonstrations swept the country earlier this year as part of
the regionwide Arab Spring.
The leader of a moderate Islamist party Abdelilah Benkirane has been appointed
by King Mohammed VI as Morocco's new prime minister. Abdelilah will now hold
talks on forming a coalition government. His Justice and Development Party has
not been in government before.
The PJD's victory follows that of Tunisia's Islamist Ennahda Party in an
election there last month. Following elections, King Mohammed VI is for the
first time obliged to choose the prime minister from the largest party, rather
than naming whoever he pleases. King Mohammed received Benkirane, who is the
PJD's secretary general, in the mountain town of Midelt and named him head of
government with the task of forming a new government.
Under a new constitution approved by referendum in July, the king has to
choose a prime minister from the party that won the most seats. The
constitution also gives the prime minister more powers to govern, but the king
still has the final say on issues of defence, security and religion. The
reforms were supported by all the main political parties, which called on
their supporters to back the proposals in the referendum.
The 20 February movement, which spearheaded Morocco's pro-democracy protests
earlier this year, has called for a boycott of the elections, dismissing them
as a ''piece of theatre''. It says the constitutional changes approved in July
are superficial, and perpetuate a ''facade of democracy'' that it says has
disguised continuing royal rule for decades.
King Mohammed VI presented the constitutional changes as a far-reaching
concession to Arab Spring-style pro-democracy protests, but activists believe
they will do little to change the actual power structure and have called for a
boycott of the elections. As a result of the constitutional changes approved
by 98% of those voting in a 1 July referendum, the position of the prime
minister, who must now be appointed from the largest party in parliament, has
also been enhanced, gaining the authority to appoint government officials and
dissolve parliament. However, the parliament will have a greater share of
power and in theory will play the leading role in a legislative process
previously dominated by the king.
Benkirane, who was elected head of his party in 2008, leads its more
pro-monarchy faction. He has repeatedly stated his support for a strong king,
even though some of his colleagues would prefer a less powerful ruler. ''The
head of the state is king and no-one can govern without him,'' he told
supporters. The PJD has said it will promote Islamic finance. However, it has
avoided focusing on issues such as alcohol and headscarves for women.
Many of the protesters who took to the streets in February feel the reforms
still fall far short of their demands for a democratic, constitutional
monarchy, and have called for a boycott. Ahead of the poll, the sleepy calm of
the capital, Rabat, was occasionally punctuated by the marches of unemployed
graduates. But the country's powerful monarchy and the system that supports it
appear to have averted any direct, mortal challenge for now.
A low turnout in the parliamentary poll would detract from the legitimacy of
King Mohammed VI's reforms and could hint at future problems.
II Morocco
The Kingdom of Morocco is the most westerly of the North African countries
known as the Maghreb. To the south, the status of Western Sahara remains
unresolved. Morocco annexed the territory in 1975 and a guerrilla war with
Algerian-backed pro-independence forces ended in 1991. UN efforts have failed
to break the political deadlock. To the north, a dispute with Spain in 2002
over the tiny island of Perejil revived the issue of the sovereignty of
Melilla and Ceuta. The small enclaves on the Mediterranean coast are
surrounded by Morocco and have been administered by Madrid for centuries.
Strategically situated with both Atlantic and Mediterranean coastlines, but
with a rugged mountainous interior, it stayed independent for centuries while
developing a rich culture blended from Arab, Berber, European and African
influences. However, Morocco was a French protectorate from 1912 to 1956, when
Sultan Mohammed became king. He was succeeded in 1961 by his son, Hassan II,
who ruled for 38 years. He played a prominent role in the search for peace in
the Middle East, given the large number of Israelis of Moroccan origin, but
was criticized for suppressing domestic opposition. A truth commission set up
to investigate human rights violations during Hassan's reign confirmed nearly
10,000 cases, ranging from death in detention to forced exile. After his death
in 1999 Hassan was succeeded by his son, who became King Mohammed VI and was
seen as a modernizer. There has been some economic and social liberalization,
but the monarch has retained sweeping powers.
King Mohammed is aided by a powerful propaganda machine his image adorns
streets and shops across the country. Central to the monarchical regime's
strength is its longevity the Alaoui dynasty gained control of most of
Morocco in 1664 and its claim of descent from the Prophet Muhammad. The king
has tremendous religious and political capital it's not just the king but
the whole political establishment, the monarchy and the ''makhzen'' provide
for the patronage network that embodies Morocco's ruling elite.
Moroccan citizens, many of them poor and illiterate and living in rural areas,
are made to believe that the monarch has a special gift or blessing and they
feel that they have some psychological relationship with the king. Symbolic
rituals also boost his status. In an annual ceremony of allegiance, the ''bay'a'',
Moroccan officials bow before the king as he parades on a horse.
Despite these traditional trappings, the monarchy under the 48-year-old king
has taken on a more modern, reformist image. His father, Hassan II, ran a
notoriously brutal regime between 1961 and 1999. Opponents were tortured and
protests repressed. 1965, the interior minister at the time, Gen Mohammed
Oufkir, supervised a crackdown on demonstrations in Casablanca from a
helicopter while according to one story personally spraying rioters with a
machine gun. But a process of gradual reform began in the final years of
Hassan's rule, and continued with his son. It included a family law that
advanced women's rights and a truth commission that explored abuses under King
Hassan though none of those responsible were prosecuted.
Along with Ennahda in Tunisia and the Justice and Development Party (AKP) in
Turkey, it places itself within a contemporary movement to promote and respect
Islam and reconcile Islam and democracy. Coalitions of more secular, royalist
parties have tried to smother it and the Islamists have found it hard to
directly challenge the king because of his religious status as ''commander of
the faithful''. It too is seen by many as being in the pocket of the palace.
The PJD here in Morocco is presenting the 'third way' between revolution and
the uncertainty of the current system.
The toppling of long-standing leaders in Tunisia and Egypt at the beginning of
the year is widely seen as having caught the Moroccan regime off-guard, at a
time when the reform process had stagnated. As Morocco's own protest movement
took shape, a long-held taboo was breached. It's the first time in Morocco
that the king was openly criticized and they didn't shoot people. Instead, the
monarchy's response was to promise changes including rights guarantees and
more powers for the parliament. These were enshrined in a new constitution
that was approved by referendum in July.
III Observations
Maybe, the Arab World is in the process of changing but Arabs still don't know
the results and what will happen in Egypt, Tunisia, Syria or Yemen especially
the destruction of Libya by the NATO-UNSC terror organizations. The moderately
Islamist Justice and Development Party (PJD), which has been buoyed by the
recent reforms, and by the gains Islamists have made elsewhere in the region,
could win the election and so supply the next prime minister.
Leaders of Morocco claim they are presenting the way of reform without losing
the stability, the unity of the country- but at the same time furthering the
democratic agenda of Morocco.
Morocco's ruling elite thinks it has skillfully sidestepped the revolutionary
fervor sweeping the Arab world by offering a milder, more peaceful vision of
change. Critics of the reforms point in particular to the fact that the king
will still have wide-ranging executive powers, in particular control over
foreign, defence and security policy. Activists also say the reforms will not
end the behind-the-scenes dominance of the ''makhzen'' a power apparatus of
veteran politicians, powerful businesspeople, the security forces and royal
officials controlled by the king through a system of patronage.
Morocco is bidding for membership of the European Union, its main trade
partner, but there appears to be little enthusiasm for this within the bloc.
Morocco has been given the status of non-Nato ally by Washington, which has
praised its support for the US-led war on terror. After deadly suicide
bombings in Casablanca in 2003, Morocco launched a crackdown on suspected
Islamic militants.
The message of a democratic agenda and gradual change is one that has gone
down well with Morocco's allies in the anti-Islamic US and Europe who promote
pro-west leaders in Muslim world and destabilize the Muslim nations if the
leaders do not buy CIA terror gimmicks
Political and poll bribery is common. Sheep were being handed out to voters,
and over the last few months, the protest movement has been subject to a smear
campaign, arrests, and intimidation at the hands of shadowy groups of
pro-monarchy thugs known as ''baltaja''. But Moroccans say they will show the
Western world that Morocco can bring about a gentle revolution and the nation
can travel towards a real democracy.
In Morocco elections are never decisive as the king retains ultimate control
and though parliament has more power, parties are weak. The electoral system
is prepared on purpose not to let anyone succeed, so it's impossible to get
more than 20% of the seats in parliament and this is to allow the monarchy to
dominate. The manipulation of the party system is just one of the
old-fashioned tactics still being deployed to bolster the status quo.
According to analysts, the reforms passed this year are largely cosmetic, and
there is no guarantee they will be put into practice on the ground. However,
so long as it plays the NATO fiddle well, it has got nothing to worry.
Claims, fake or real, of descent from the Prophet Muhammad (Peace) by a few
pampered Muslim leaders might be fashionable but are ridiculous if they
decline to promote true Islam in the society. Moroccan king clams the same of
being a descent from the Prophet Muhammad but he shamelessly sides with NATO
terrorism and western anti-Islamism. A Muslim nation that promotes
anti-Islamism and helps, directly or otherwise, the anti-Islamic GST rogues
and refuses to promote Islamic way of life and institutionalize Islamic law on
daily basis ceases to be a Muslim nation. Muslim leaders in such societies are
guilty of anti-Islamic crimes.
©
EsinIslam.Com
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