The Justice and Development Party (PJD) has increased from 125 seats to the outgoing room for only 13, out of 395.
Le Monde with AFP
Evinced power by the ballot box, the main Islamist party of Morocco has chosen Saturday, October 30 a new chief, Abdelilah Benkirane, one of his old leaders and figures popular with activists.
m. Benkirane, 67, was elected Secretary General of the Justice and Development Party (PJD), with more than 80% of the votes, after an extraordinary congress meeting in Rabat, according to the PJD website. His triumphal election, expected, marks the great return on the political scene of the former chief of the Islamic government five years after being limited by King Mohammed VI.
The PJD has undergone a historic debacle in the legislative and local elections of September 8, which led to the collective resignation of the party management.
In power for a decade, without ever really governing, this Conservative Islamist party collapsed, from 125 seats to the outgoing room for only 13 (out of 395). As a result, the PJD decided to return to the opposition after denouncing “violations and irregularities” which tainted the elections.
According to the Minister of the Interior, Abdelouafi Laftit, the voting operations took place “in normal circumstances”.
Charismatic politician
It is the national gathering of the self-employed (RNI, Liberal) who has trapped the bet, with 102 deputies. His leader, the Aziz entrepreneur Akhannouch, considered close to the Royal Palace, has been appointed to the head of the new government.
m. Benkirane is seen as a charismatic politician, with the strong media presence, appreciated by Islamist militants but accused of “populism” by his detractors. Close to the movement of the Muslim Brotherhood, he co-founded the PJD in the 1990s.
Elected Party Secretary General In 2008, he became Moroccan government leader in 2011, in the wake of the protests of the February 20 movement – Moroccan version of the “Arab Spring” – who demanded the end of “corruption and despotism “.
Renewed at the head of the government, a first in Morocco, following its victory in the 2016 legislative elections, it is then unable to form a majority coalition because of an iron arm with its rival Aziz Akhannouch.
It is removed from its functions by the monarch after several months of blocking and replaced in March 2017 by the number two of the PJD, the Saad-Eddine Al-Othmani consensual. An episode that has strongly weakened the Islamists. Mr. Benkirane will have as a task of removing an Islamist party sounded by his defeat and in doubt.