Moroccan Parliament Political speculators have justified the reservation of some political parties to participate in early legislative and local elections in Morocco, citing the politicians’ fear of the continued political apathy among citizens , and their concern that there will be a reduced number of participants in the up-coming elections that the Ministry of the Interior is seeking to organize for the 7th October.
Speculators have stated that Moroccan political parties are not ready to participate in early elections, because of their long absence from the political scene, which means that they are no longer in touch with the people. They have also pointed to the fact that the Moroccan political parties are used to preparing for elections on a seasonal basis. They stressed that the Ministry of the Interior’s decision to organize the elections early this time does not serve the interests of many of the Moroccan political parties, and thus explains why the majority of them have opposed this proposal.
The Socialist Union Party, (which is considered the third most powerful party in Morocco after the right-wing Independence party, and the Islamic Justice and Development Party), has taken an official position against the holding of early elections. In a statement, the party explicitly criticized the talks conducted by the Ministry of the Interior with the aim of getting political parties to agree to participate in early elections.
The Socialist Party used sharp words in its criticism of the Moroccan Ministry of the Interior, saying: \"The ongoing talks between some of the political parties, which in truth are only comprised of figureheads from the past, have agreed to redeployment, and have switched the positions from their party to another.\"
The Moroccan Socialist Party asked the current Moroccan government, which is led by the right-wing Independence Party, to reopen the electoral regulations for registration, and for the assignment of administrative committees to supervise the elections, calling for the need to agree on \"a strict monitoring mechanism involving human rights organizations, civil society, and foreign observers.\"
A member of the Political Bureau of the Socialist Union, Hassan Tariq, stated that there is not yet a date set for the elections, saying: \"We will first guarantee the conduct of fair elections.\" He added that transparent elections cannot be guaranteed at a time when some party leaders have begun sabotaging the political parties which are most likely to lose out in the elections.
A political official said that the reason behind the Ministry of the Interior’s rush to hold early legislative elections is to stop a series of protests led by the movement of the 20th of February.
This official criticized the position of the two parties, the Socialist Union Party, his ally in the government, and the Islamic Justice and Development opposition party. However, he also led a barrage of criticism against the Ministry of the Interior, because he does not agree that an early date should be set for the elections. The official believes that early elections would lead to the continuation of the
political crisis currently being experienced by Morocco, pointing to the growing frequency of protests taking place in several Moroccan cities.
The politicians in the position of the Islamic Party say that the rush to hold a parliamentary election may push many to join the movement of the 20th of February, as an implicit threat to the Justice and Development Party by the youth protest movement.
The position of the ruling Independence Party is less stringent. They linked the fixing of early elections to the necessity of making changes to the heads of the Moroccan provinces.
The Head of the Independence party in the House of Counsellors, Mohammad Al-Ansari, demanded the Ministry of the Interior to swiftly reveal the plan for the new elections, and to bring it into existence.
Officials from the Independence party said: \"We are for the running of early elections on the set by King Mohammad Mutassim\'s adviser, but all we are asking for is transparency. We believe that this can be achieved, in view of the political will of the highest authority in the country. We are a historic party with an organized structure, and we are not afraid of holding early elections.