For an outsider, trying to understand Moroccan politics is a difficult task. As there are elections scheduled in the next few days, The View From Fez, thought we should attempt to discover how it all works.
The parliament comprises two chambers that are mandated by the nation. The 325 members of the House of Representatives are elected for a five- year team at direct universal suffrage. The chamber of advisors members are elected for a nine-year term at indirect universal suffrage : three fifths of its members are elected at each region by an electoral college composed of representatives of local councils while the remaining two fifths are elected in each region by electoral colleges composed of elected members of professional chambers and members elected at the national scale by an electoral college composed of wage -earners representatives.
The parliament holds two sessions. The constitution stipulates that an extraordinary session might be convened at the request of the absolute majority of one of the chambers or at the request of the government. Sessions are public and each chamber drafts its own statutes whose constitutionality is systematically controlled by the Constitutional Council.
The speaker of the House of Representatives is elected at the legislature opening and in the April session of the legislature's third year. The speaker of the chamber of advisors is elected at the opening of October's session and each time the chamber is renewed.
So what about the upcoming election? It is for just one third of the seats of the Moroccan Chamber of Advisors.
The number of candidates for the third of the seats (90) of the Moroccan Chamber of Advisors, Parliament upper house, scheduled for September 8, is 667, which works out at 7.41 hopefuls for each seat.
The number of candidacies of the electoral college of local collectivities for 54 seats is 441, including 109 candidacies presented as lists of 432 candidates and nine individual candidacies.
The candidacies break downs as follow :
Le mouvement populaire (MP) : 56 candidats.
Parti de l'Istiqlal (PI) : 54.
Union socialiste des forces populaires (USFP) : 53.
Parti de la justice et du développement (PJD) : 41.
Rassemblement national des indépendants (RNI) : 34.
Parti du progrès et du socialisme (PPS) : 34.
Parti national démocrate (PND) : 28.
Union constitutionnelle (UC) : 22.
Parti Al Ahd : 22.
Front des forces démocratiques (FFD) : 17.
Parti de l'environnement et du développement : 17.
Mouvement démocratique social : 14.
Parti du renouveau et de l'équité (PRE) : 12.
Parti du congrès national ittihadi : 10.
Parti des forces citoyennes : 07.
Initiative pour la citoyenneté et le développement (ICD) : 06.
Parti du Centre social : 06.
Parti de la choura et de l'istiqlal : 05.
Parti marocain libéral : 03.
For the electoral college of the chambers of agriculture, the number of candidacies for the renewal of 11 seats is 32, including 10 in the form of lists and 22 individual candidacies.
The candidacies according to poltical party membership are as follow:
Parti de l'Istiqlal : (07).
Mouvement Populaire (PI) : 06.
Rassemblement national des indépendants (RNI) : 06.
Mouvement démocratique social : 04.
Union constitutionnelle (UC) : 03.
Parti National démocrate (PND) : 02.
Parti du progrès et du socialisme (PPS) : 01.
Front des forces démocratiques (FFD): 01.
Parti Al Ahd : 01.
Parti de la Réforme et du développement : (01).
As to the electoral college of the chambers of commerce, industry and services, the number of candidacies for the 8 seats for this category is 28, including 16 on lists and 12 as individuals.
For the seven seats of the electoral college of the chamber of handicraft, 20 individual candidates are running for the seats.
The candidates belong to the following political parties :
Union socialiste des forces populaires (USFP) : 04.
Parti de l'Istiqlal : 04.
Le mouvement populaire (MP) : 04.
Rassemblement national des indépendants (RNI) : 03.
Parti du progrès et du socialisme (PPS) : 02.
L'union constitutionnelle (UC) : 01.
Parti national démocrate (PND) : 01.
Front des forces démocratiques (FFD) : 01.
For the one seat of the electoral college of the chambers of sea fisheries, two candidates are running from the Union socialiste des forces populaires (USFP) et le Rassemblement national des indépendants (RNI).
For the 9 seats of the electoral college of the representantives of wage earners, 16 lists of a total of 144 candidates have been entered.
According to the Interior Ministry the number of candidates is provisional and the electoral campaigns are to started on Friday, September 1 and to wind up on Thursday, September 7.
One interesting aspect of this election is that a woman is running for House of Counselors for first time The General Union of Moroccan Workers (UGTM) has made a historic step by placing a woman on its list of nine candidates for the House of Counselors election on 8 September. Kadija Zoumi, a 46-year-old teacher and a representative of UGTM's pro-reform wing, told Le Matin she is aware of the historical responsibility she is assuming and that her move would serve to prove whether any hope exists for the numerous women trade unionists in Morocco.
Tags: Morocco Fes, Maghreb news
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