Parliamentary election in Morocco 1997
The 1997 general election in Morocco took place on November 14, 1997.
The election took place before the end of the originally planned six years as a result of a constitutional amendment in 1996, which resulted in a new electoral law, with innovations such as the return to a two-chamber parliament, whose assembly of representatives (or `` National Assembly '') has now been made available for direct election. The opposition Socialist Union of People's Forces (USFP) party led by Abderrahmane Youssoufi emerged victorious , and for the first time in the country's history, the election winner was also entrusted with forming a government. This then formed the so-called "Government of Change", including independent specialists in human rights issues.
prehistory
All parliamentary elections in the country took place after constitutional amendments, which each time redefined the conditions of parliamentarism . As a result of this, as well as through the establishment of new parties or split-offs, the king had so far succeeded in keeping the majority in parliament always balanced and keeping the parties relatively weak and forced to cooperate. In choosing the prime minister, the king was by no means bound by the outcome of the parliamentary elections. The king should be the sole guarantor of stability in parliament and government.
However, it has to be stated that the constitutional amendments of 1993 and 1996 are based on a catalog of demands which was handed over to the king in October 1991 by the party leaders of the USFP and the Istiqlal after the previous negotiations on the formation of a national unity government had failed.
Observers see both the constitutional amendment of 1996 and the early election itself as an attempt by the monarch Hassan II , who is struggling with increasing health problems, to enable his son and heir to take over power smoothly and without problems by specifically courting and joining the established opposition parties Government work to be involved.
After the constitutional amendment, the traditionally controversial electoral roll is cleared out, and the established parties are sworn to a new electoral law in March 1997. You solemnly sign to follow this, not commit any election fraud and recognize the election result.
The vote
In the parliamentary elections, which are now every 5 years according to the constitution, the direct election of the representative assembly in the bicameral parliament of Morocco, a total of 325 parliamentary seats will be allocated. In case of doubt, they only have advisory power, and when appointing a prime minister the king is not bound by the election results or the new majority in parliament.
16 parties stand for election, supplemented by various politicians without a party, a total of around 3,300 candidates, 69 of them women. With an estimated total population of around 28 million, officially 12,790,631 citizens are registered as eligible to vote on electoral rolls. A total of 7,456,996 votes were cast (which corresponds to a turnout of 58.3%), 1,085,336 of which were invalid votes (approx. 15%), leaving around 50% valid votes.
Election result
The strongest party was the USFP under Abderrahmane Youssoufi for the first time, and for the first time in the history of the country, after a myth-shrouded meeting, the king also entrusted the election winner with the formation of a government, and the king accepted it without conditions and without consulting his party or his coalitionists, and formed the so-called "Government of Change".
The election result itself brought hardly any surprises and no dramatic shifts between the political camps. The exception is the growth and establishment of the Islamist collective movement MPCD, which a short time later became even better known and more successful under the new name Party for Justice and Development (PJD). Overall, however, there was a very balanced balance of power in the House of Representatives. The fact that the new government should go down in history as the `` government of change '' was ultimately a planned political move by the king.
The winners also included 3 newly founded parties that made it into parliament, namely the Democratic and Social Movement (MDS), the Front of the Democratic Forces (FFD) and the Social Democratic Party (PSD).
| Political party | Expression | Leading head | Results 1993 |
Results 1997 |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Socialist Union of People's Forces (USFP) |
Social democracy | Abderrahmane Youssoufi | 15.62% of the vote 52 seats |
17.53% of the vote 57 seats |
|
|
Constitutional Union (UC) |
Royalism, conservatism , economic liberalism |
Mohammed Abied | 16.22% of the vote 54 seats |
15.38% of the vote 50 seats |
|
|
National Association of Independents (RNI) |
Liberalism , center-right | Ahmed Osman | 12.31% of the vote 41 seats |
14.15% of the vote 46 seats |
|
|
Popular Movement (MP) |
Royalism , representation of rural areas |
Mohand Laenser | 15.32% of the vote 51 seats |
12.3% of the vote 40 seats |
|
|
Istiqlal or "Party of Independence" (PI) |
Conservatism , nationalism |
Abbas al-Fassi |
15.62% of the vote 52 seats |
9.84% of the vote 32 seats |
|
|
Democratic and Social Movement (MDS) |
Conservatism | Mahmoud Archane | -% of the vote - seats |
9.84% of the vote 32 seats |
|
| National People's Movement (MNP) | Conservative | Mahjoubi Aherdane | 7.51% of the vote 25 seats |
5.84% of the vote 19 seats |
|
| National Democratic Party (PND) | liberalism | Abdalah Kadiri | 7.21% of the vote 24 seats |
3.07% of the vote 10 seats |
|
| Mouvement populaire constitutionnel et démocratique (MPCD) |
Islamist collecting movement |
Abdelkrim al-Khatib | 0.0% of the vote 0 seats |
2.76% of the vote 9 seats |
|
|
Front of the Democratic Forces (FFD) |
socialism | Thami El Khyari | -% of the vote - seats |
3.76% of the vote 9 seats |
|
| Party of Renewal and Progress (PRP) or Party of Progress and Socialism (PPS) |
socialism | Ismael Alaoui | 3.0% of the vote 10 seats |
2.76% of the vote 9 seats |
|
|
Social Democratic Party (PSD) |
socialism | ? | -% of the vote - seats |
1.53% of the vote 5 seats |
|
|
Organization of People's Democratic Action (OADP) |
socialism | Mohamed Bensaïd Aït Idder | 0.6% of the vote 2 seats |
1.23% of the vote 4 seats |
|
|
Party of Action (PA) |
liberalism | ? | 0.6% of the vote 2 seats |
0.61% of the vote 2 seats |
|
|
Democratic Party of Independence (PDI) |
Conservatism | Thami El Wazzani | 2.7% of the vote 9 seats |
0.3% of the vote 1 seats |
|
Government formation
For the first time in the country's history, the king entrusted the election winners, Abderrahmane Youssoufi , with the formation of a government, which then later formed the so-called “government of change”.
His left-liberal government was officially installed on March 14, 1998, made up of tried-and-tested ministers loyal to the king in the interior, exterior and justice departments, independent specialists in human rights issues, as well as members of the Koutla parties USFP, PPS and Istiqlal, as well as the RNI and the MP.
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ suedd.ch: On the constitutional Morocco 1996 In: database and search engine for direct democracy; by Beat Müller
- ↑ Th.Koszinowski & Hanspeter Mattes: "the Middle East Yearbook 1997", VS publishing house for social sciences, Opladen 1998, ISBN 978-3-322-95089-5
- ↑ Telquel.ma, March 19, 2013
- ↑ a b Interparliamentary Union - election results Morocco 1997
- ^ Interparliamentary Union - Morocco election results 1993
- ^ Historique des gouvernements on the Maroc.ma archive on Wikiwix.com
