Parliamentary election in Morocco 2007

The regular parliamentary elections in Morocco in 2007 took place on September 7, 2007.

International observers sum up: The election was well organized and in accordance with international standards, but measures are needed that strengthen confidence in the political bodies in order to mobilize more voters.

The Istiqlal party emerged victorious from the election, which became the strongest parliamentary group for the first time in decades. Their party chairman Abbas al-Fassi was subsequently by King Mohammed VI. entrusted with forming a government.

prehistory

The elected parliament only has consultative power. When appointing a prime minister, the king is not bound by a majority in parliament. Even in the run-up to the election it becomes clear to what extent the political conditions under which the election is conducted are controlled and influenced by the king. In the end, this is also expressed in a historically low turnout of only 37% of those entitled to vote registered in the electoral roll, and ultimately a very high proportion (approx. 19%) of invalid votes. The election date was highly controversial in the run-up to it, as it fell during the religious fasting month of Ramadan , which is why it was feared that voting could be more religiously motivated.

The vote

In the parliamentary elections planned 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 are allocated, of which 295 via party lists and 30 seats via a so-called "national list", which is reserved for women.

33 parties put MPs for election, supplemented by various non-party candidates. All party lists and candidates choose an “election symbol” so that illiterate people can also vote.

With an estimated total population of 33.24 million, 15,462,362 citizens are officially registered as eligible to vote on electoral rolls. A total of 4,607,494 valid votes were cast. With a participation of approx. 37% (compared to 51.6% in 2002), only approx. 30% of the eligible votes remain.

Election result

For the first time in decades, the strongest party was Istiqlal with 52 seats. It clearly defeated its previous coalition partner USFP, which had been the strongest parliamentary group since 1998 and after losing 12 seats was now only the fifth strongest force, while other left-wing parties were able to record significant gains in votes.

The Islamists (PJD) are the big losers of the election. With only 4 additional seats compared to In the 2002 election, in which they did not run in all districts but won 42 seats, general expectations of their election result were completely missed. In view of the generally low level of voter mobilization, your complaints about corruption and buying votes seem more like a missed topic, even if irregularities should have occurred. If the reasons for their defeat are more to be found in the perception of their political work in the previous electoral period and their sometimes weak election campaign, a trend towards increasing Islamism in the country remains unchanged.

Overall, the political blocs and camps remained stable, while there were clear shifts within the party coalitions and groups.

Political party		Expression	Leading head.	Results 2002	Results 2007
	Istiqlal or "Party of Independence" (PI)	Conservatism , nationalism	Abbas al-Fassi (Prime Minister-designate)	7.8% of the vote 48 seats	10.7% of the vote 52 seats
	Justice and Development Party (PJD)	Conservatism , Islamism , economic liberalism	Saadeddine Othmani	7.4% of the vote 42 seats	10.9% of the vote 46 seats
	Popular Movement (MP)	Royalism , representation of rural areas	Mohand Laenser	5.0% of the vote 27 seats	9.3% of the vote 41 seats
	National Association of Independents (RNI)	Liberalism , center-right	Ahmed Osman	7.2% of the vote 41 seats	9.7% of the vote 39 seats
	Socialist Union of People's Forces (USFP)	Social democracy	Mohammed El-Yazghi	9.6% of the vote 50 seats	8.9% of the vote 38 seats
	Constitutional Union (UC)	Royalism, conservatism , economic liberalism	Mohammed Abied	?,? % of the vote 16 seats	7.3% of the vote 27 seats
	Party of Progress and Socialism (PPS)	socialism	Ismael Alaoui	3.4% of the vote 11 seats	5.4% of the vote 17 seats
	Party of National Democrats (PND) & al-Ahd (coalition)	liberalism	Abdalah Kadiri	?,? % of the vote 12 seats	5.5% of the vote 14 seats
	Front of the Democratic Forces (FFD)	socialism	Thami El Khyari	3.6% of the vote 12 seats	4.5% of the vote 9 seats
	Democratic and Social Movement (MDS)	Conservatism	Mahmoud Archane	?,? % of the vote 7 seats	3.7% of the vote 9 seats
	Federation of the Democratic Left (FGD Coalition)	socialism	(No)	0.0% of the vote 0 seats	3.2% of the vote 6 seats
	Labor Party (Morocco) (PT)	Social democracy	Abdelkrim Benatiq	0.0% of the vote 0 seats	1.7% of the votes 5 seats
	Environment and Development Party (PED)	ecology	Ahmed Alami	1.0% of the vote 2 seats	1.7% of the vote 5 seats
	Party of Renewal and Justice (PRE)	liberalism	Chaquir Achahbar	?,? % of the vote 0 seats	1.4% of the votes 4 seats

The remaining 13 seats are divided between 6 other parties and 5 independent MPs.

Government formation

King Mohammed VI appointed the leader of the party with the strongest vote, Abbas al-Fassi of the Istiqlal, to form a government . He immediately formed a government coalition from the Al-Kutla parties, i.e. the USFP and the PPS, as well as the RNI and the MP, which was officially appointed on October 15, 2015.

See also

• Moroccan political system
• History of Morocco

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Mezgarne.com blog from September 2007 ( Memento of the original from April 10, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
2. ↑ ^{a b c} Election Guide: Parliamentary Election Morocco 2007
3. ^ "Elections in Morocco: Conservatives win" Der Spiegel, September 9, 2007
4. ↑ psephos.adam-carr.net: Results 2002
5. ↑ psephos.adam-carr.net: Results 2007
6. ↑ Maroc.ma: List of the Governments of Morocco