A shock wave shakes the Moroccan political scene after the elections on Wednesday, September 8. After ten years at the head of the government, the moderate Islamist party JDP collapsed in the legislative ballot, dropping from 125 seats to 13 in the House of Representatives (the Moroccan Parliament), according to the latest figures.
Collective resignation. The general secretariat of the party of the lamp claims to take responsibility for this electoral slap which saw the JDP finish in 8th position. Reached by phone at curfew time, after a long day of the meeting, Mohammed Reda Benkhaldoun, responsible for international relations of the JDP, comments: “This is not the end of the JDP, it is not the end. of the world. It’s a small battle and the story goes on. So we have to review our relationship on a number of points. But you know, we are a loyalist party, very democratic, and we thank all the people who voted for us”.
“Illogical”
These official legislative results, the JDP considers “incomprehensible“, “illogical” and “unacceptable“. He plans to file appeals.
For the various observers of Moroccan political life, however, this decline can be explained in several ways: vote sanction in the face of a record deemed disappointing both at the national and local level; erosion of the commitment of its militants – many elected officials of 2011 or 2016 did not want to represent themselves under the JDP label for this election; internal divisions around topics as varied as the legalization of cannabis or the normalization of relations with Israel, according to an analyst.
It’s up to the monarch to take the stage
After a decade in business, the JDP, therefore, joined the opposition in Parliament. But he is considering alliances locally.
It is now up to the monarch, King Mohammed VI, that it is up to the coming days (no deadline is set by the Constitution) to appoint the person who will be responsible for forming the government, a personality who must come from the majority party in the legislative elections, therefore of the RNI which obtained 102 seats according to the latest updated results, of Aziz Akhannouche.
