Moroccans vote under new voting rules

 Moroccans started voting on Wednesday in a parliamentary election under new rules that were expected to make it much harder for the moderate Islamist PJD to remain as the biggest party.

Though election polls are banned, analysts expect the PJD to lose ground to its more pro-establishment rivals, the RNI and PAM parties, which define themselves as social democrats.

Morocco is a constitutional monarchy where the king holds sweeping powers.

He picks the prime minister from the party that wins most seats in parliament and appoints key ministers.

A decade after Arab Spring protests led King Mohammed VI to give more powers to the elected parliament and the government it helps form, he has brought most major decisions back within the palace walls.

“In Morocco, we have a strong institution, the monarchy, that overshadows the rest of political players,” said Mohammed Masbah, head of an independent Moroccan think-tank.

Morocco’s development plans and big economic projects have been initiated by the monarch rather than the government, and rather than letting the premier – drawn from the biggest parliamentary party – select key ministers, the palace has done so itself.

With the advent of the pandemic, the monarchy has further consolidated its executive authority, taking control of most strategic decisions from vaccine procurement to economic relief.

Often, Prime Minister Saad Dine El Otmani seemed to be the last person to know about major initiatives – including the deal last year to bolster ties with Israel, something he had denied would happen.

Now, a new voting law pushed by an interior minister who was selected by the palace will make it harder for big parties to gain a lot of seats, meaning parliament will be more fragmented and any government that emerges even weaker than previously.

The palace also sets the economic agenda for the country of 37 million people and has commissioned a new development model that the new government is asked to implement.

The monarchy’s dominant role means political parties espouse similar platforms focusing on education, health, employment, and social welfare.

Turnout in parliamentary elections has generally been low.

This year the vote will be held on the same day as municipal and regional elections, which usually have higher participation, in a bid to improve turnout.

Despite having been the largest party since 2011, the PJD has failed to stop laws it opposes, including one to bolster the French language in education and another to allow cannabis for medical use.

The new voting rules, seen by PJD leaders as having been introduced specifically to target their majority, change the way seats are allocated, making it harder for large parties to gain many seats.

Morocco’s economy is expected to grow 5.8 per cent this year after it contracted by 6.8% last year under the combined impact of the pandemic and drought.