Morocco debates constitutional changes

As Morocco prepares to head to the polls, many are debating whether or not to even bother voting.

By Mawassi Lahcen for Magharebia in Casablanca – 30/06/11

Moroccan voters will take to the polls on Friday (July 1st) in a national referendum on constitutional amendments. But some opposition parties are calling for a boycott of the vote on the grounds that the changes do not go far enough.

Thousands of people marched in the streets during the tense ten-day campaign, both for and against the proposed reforms. The main controversy surrounded the way in which the draft constitution was drawn up and the royal privileges it preserved.

The February 20 Movement, together with different left-wing factions and the Islamist Justice and Charity Group, called for a boycott. The group has opposed the reform committee since it was announced by the king in his March 9th speech.

Instead of the appointed committee headed by Abdeltif Menoui, the activists called for an elected constituent assembly to draw up constitutional amendments. Some members of the February 20 Movement have adopted the protest slogan, "Don't grant us our constitution."

Other parties announced their opposition to the proposed changes after the draft was released, saying that the amendments left too much power concentrated in the hands of the monarch. The king will remain the head of the ministerial council, the Judiciary Power Supreme Council, the Supreme Scientific Council and the Supreme Security Council. He will also retain the right to choose half of the constitutional court's judges and its presiding member.

"It is undeniable that the proposed draft included very important cornerstones that go in the right direction towards a parliamentary monarchy, nonetheless it also included some part that cut this step short," said Mohamed Sassi, Vice Secretary-General of Unified Socialist Left Party. "Basically, the amended constitution takes with one hand what the other hand just gave."

Sassi explained that the new constitution gave more power to the government but failed to sever the link between ministers and the king. The monarch will still head the ministerial council, which declares policies and programs.

"The place given to the king in the draft, as a supreme commander and warrantor of the supreme interests of the motherland, was a popular and urgent political request, especially in such a phase in which political parties do not have the trust of the people," said Mohamed Krin, from the Party of Progress and Socialism.

Several civil society associations support of the new constitution but the Amazigh Tamaynut association has called for a boycott. They accused the drafting committee of making last-minute changes and dropping the plan to make Tamazight an official language alongside Arabic after pressure from the Justice and Development Party and the Independence Party.

The proposed changes are "a real path to build new Morocco in which powers are separate", according to Ahmed Laraki, a former minister from the socialist party. "On the other hand, some other sections fail to be as positive".

"We can't consider the draft as an achievement of our expectations, but it would be wrong to consider that what was accomplished doesn't go in the right direction. Thus we support this amendment, providing that July 1st will mark the start of a new era, in which we will upgrade the political and legal institutions and will break with the faulty methods of the past," he added.

Source: Magharebia.
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2011/06/30/feature-02.