Morocco : The Istiqlal memorandum
The secretary general of the Istiqlal Party Hamid Chabat yesterday threw down the gauntlet to its coalition partner the islamist PJD and Prime Minister Abdelilah Benkirane by sending it a memorandum to the PJD and other partes in the coalition calling for a change in the basis on which the governing coalition is based.
Source : https://www.marocafrik.com/english/Morocco-The-Ist...
The memorandum calls for a cabinet reshuffle of ministerial posts reflecting the parties in the coalition according to the number of votes caste in the last election.
The 17 page document also calls for the rewriting of the agreement between the parties so that the coalition meets to decide policy . The four parties in the coalition are PJD, PPS, MP and the Istliqlal). It demands new economic initiatives and that the cabinet ministers should include not less than 20% of women. At the moment the cabinet has one women Minister,Bassima Hakkaoui.
The memorandum criticises the Prime Minister remarking "the government lacks a strong leader,who actively leads the coalition with wisdom". It dennounces "the very poor performance of some government ministers," adding that the country is" in regression, at all levels both economically and in terms of rights. "
It also calls for an agreement on the priorities of the government including economic policy including deficits in the balance of payments, the trade and budget deficit, and the low foreign exchange reserves.The Istiqlal party
proposes to focus on the production of wealth, export diversification and job creation. It also calls for speeding upaction onhalth insurance and pensions.
The cat is thus amongst the pigeons. Mr Chabat wants the Istiqlal as second member of the coalition to have more senior ministers in cabinet. His predecessor Abbas Al Fassi,he feels gave away too much. Those Istiqlal leaders present at the announcement of the memorandum included Istiqlal Karim Ghallab President of the House of Representatives, Youssef Amrani Minister for Foreign Affairs, Minister Fouad Douiri of energy and mines, but not significantly,Mohamed El Ouafa Minister of Education and Minister Nizar Baraka of Economy and Finance.
Uptil now the PJD has acted as if it was the sole party in the government according to Istiqlal which is now calling for the government to act as a coalition. The negotiations after the elections prior to the formation of the government were indeed fraught and the desire to give the PJD as the party which won the most votes a chance to govern has given way to Istiqlal's memorandum. The honeymoon period is over, Moroccan politics is based on coalitions. How Mr Benkirane( and the other coalition partners) responds to this new move could change the current political landscape in Morocco.
The 17 page document also calls for the rewriting of the agreement between the parties so that the coalition meets to decide policy . The four parties in the coalition are PJD, PPS, MP and the Istliqlal). It demands new economic initiatives and that the cabinet ministers should include not less than 20% of women. At the moment the cabinet has one women Minister,Bassima Hakkaoui.
The memorandum criticises the Prime Minister remarking "the government lacks a strong leader,who actively leads the coalition with wisdom". It dennounces "the very poor performance of some government ministers," adding that the country is" in regression, at all levels both economically and in terms of rights. "
It also calls for an agreement on the priorities of the government including economic policy including deficits in the balance of payments, the trade and budget deficit, and the low foreign exchange reserves.The Istiqlal party
proposes to focus on the production of wealth, export diversification and job creation. It also calls for speeding upaction onhalth insurance and pensions.
The cat is thus amongst the pigeons. Mr Chabat wants the Istiqlal as second member of the coalition to have more senior ministers in cabinet. His predecessor Abbas Al Fassi,he feels gave away too much. Those Istiqlal leaders present at the announcement of the memorandum included Istiqlal Karim Ghallab President of the House of Representatives, Youssef Amrani Minister for Foreign Affairs, Minister Fouad Douiri of energy and mines, but not significantly,Mohamed El Ouafa Minister of Education and Minister Nizar Baraka of Economy and Finance.
Uptil now the PJD has acted as if it was the sole party in the government according to Istiqlal which is now calling for the government to act as a coalition. The negotiations after the elections prior to the formation of the government were indeed fraught and the desire to give the PJD as the party which won the most votes a chance to govern has given way to Istiqlal's memorandum. The honeymoon period is over, Moroccan politics is based on coalitions. How Mr Benkirane( and the other coalition partners) responds to this new move could change the current political landscape in Morocco.
Source : https://www.marocafrik.com/english/Morocco-The-Ist...