MOROCCO: Reform as a path to a genuine constitutional monarchy

Editor’s note: The post is from an analyst with the Carnegie Middle East Center. Neither the Los Angeles Times nor Babylon & Beyond endorses the positions of the analysts, nor does Carnegie endorse the positions of The Times or its blog.

When King Mohammed VI announced broad changes to Morocco’s constitution in March, he signaled a shift from an absolute to a constitutional monarchy. The new, elected government that results from these changes will be accountable to parliament, have an independent judiciary, offer a more decentralized governance system, provide broader individual liberties and offer women the same chance of winning elected office as men.

The changes came suddenly. Before massive protests erupted in Morocco on Feb. 20 — part of the upheaval that has swept across North Africa and elsewhere in the Middle East — the political scene seemed stagnant; no political party was pressing for constitutional changes.

On that day, however, protesters in more than 50 Moroccan cities called to set boundaries on the king’s powers and hand over the executive prerogatives to an elected government that voters can hold accountable. The king apparently received the message, although he did not make any explicit reference to the protests in his speech.

The announced constitutional reforms open new opportunities for political life in Morocco. Seven significant suggested changes included in the reforms would do the following:

Shift executive power from the king to the prime minister. The prime minister will serve as the head of the executive branch and is fully responsible for the government, the civil service and the implementation of the government’s agenda.

In the current constitution, the prime minister is responsible only for coordinating activities among the ministers of government. With the prime minister selected from the political party that enjoys a majority in parliament, parties will need to develop their economic and social platforms.

Shift power from the king to electors. The revisions will change the process of naming the prime minister, who under the current constitution is appointed by the king regardless of election results. 

Expand the scope of the legislative domain and provide parliament with new powers. The legislative domain is explicitly restricted in the current constitution. Any legal issue not explicitly mentioned as being part of the domain of law belongs to the regulatory field, and can be handled by governmental decrees.

The legislative process grants dominance to the executive branch over parliament. The government controls the agenda of parliament and gives priority to bills it submits to parliament over those initiated by members of parliament. Finally, the government can legislate between regular parliamentary sessions. As such, the constitution has allowed the parliament to delegate its legislative power to the government.

Strengthen the judiciary and guarantee its independence. Morocco’s constitution sets out the principle of judicial independence. In practice, however, the judiciary is subject to executive influence.

The king serves as chairman of the Judiciary Supreme Council that is mandated to manage judges’ careers (nomination, promotion, mobility and disciplinary sanctions). In addition, the Ministry of Justice sets the agenda for the council’s quarterly meetings and submits the council’s recommendations to the king, who issues final decisions.

Shift power and resources from the center to the regions. The revisions will empower regional councils that are directly elected by voters instead of regional representatives of the executive (mainly the Ministry of Interior).

Promote participation by women in managing public affairs and promote their political rights. The new constitution is expected to favor equal access by men and women to elected office. It would likely include mechanisms to promote women’s representation in parliament and on local councils, and to guarantee a certain number of seats for women in parliament.

Strengthen the rule of law, expand personal freedoms and ensure human rights in political, economic, social and cultural areas. The preamble of the constitution is expected to explicitly affirm Morocco’s commitment to human rights as universally recognized. Morocco’s Amazigh identity will also be mentioned in the constitution and the Amazigh language will be made an official national language in addition to Arabic.

The planned changes will not lead to a parliamentary constitution in Morocco, but they will introduce the separation of powers and reduce the king’s all-powerful role in government. As a result, political parties and civil society should remain vigilant about the changes and seize the opportunity of regional upheaval to push for additional reforms.

Political parties play a pivotal role in any well-functioning constitutional democracy. They should allow a new generation of political leaders to emerge and open their doors to youth who no longer trust politics or parties. Compared to those of other countries in the region, Morocco’s political system has become much more open over the last decade, but political leaders lacked a strategic vision and adopted a purely opportunistic behavior, trading requests for political reforms for ministerial portfolios and other private benefits. They cannot blame the regime for all of their woes.

Now that youth outside the political parties have pushed for constitutional changes, political parties must heed the message. No effective democracy can be achieved with closed, archaic and fragmented political parties. It’s time for them to change along with Morocco’s constitution.

 -- Lahcen Achy in Beirut

Photo: Moroccans in Casablanca rally in support of political reforms. Credit: Karim Selmaoui / European Pressphoto Agency

Comments

[Sam]

Change is a bad word in most corrupted world leaders do not like to hear. I say, yes it will happen in Morocco, because the Moroccan people are tired and fed up with old school politics and looking for better life in their own country and not overseas. let's be realastic and look around you in the Arab World, what country do you think is aware of its problems and taking real action to fix them. A new democratic Morocco is coming, and those against change are against Morocco.

[Salim]

Mohamed Al Motasim who represent M6 in the negotiation process with the political parties, refuse to give the political parties time to read the constitutional draft before the meeting. At least two political parties have withdrawn from the discussion.http://www.lakome.com/politics/78-news-politics/5462-2011-06-07-12-57-31.html. Most educated people in Morocco don't agree on any constitution that does not come from the Moroccan people.

This draft of the constitution is ILLEGAL, because it does not take into account the social forces in the country, Feb 20 is one of them!
when you look at the sites like www.reform.ma you will see that the educated class of Morocco want to abolish all articles that give power to the Monarch. However, the Moroccan authority and the palace are continuing with the miss information and putting pressure on political parties and the social forces to agree on the new constitutional draft. The Moroccan authority is capitalizing on high illiteracy and miss information, to run a constitution that was written by the palace. This is simply Illegal...

[clearsam,Chicago, IL]

nice analysis, i agree with other commentators here that reforms, at least in the area of decentralization have started a few years ago in Morocco, but still, the popular movement and peaceful street protests have catapulted those reforms to newer heights.

prior to the protests, none of the Moroccan political parties dared to adventure and talk about deep constitutional reforms and about the king's duties, it looks like all of them were kind waiting on each other to take the first step...

[Adil]

I don't think the protests have prompted the change in the constitution. Morocco had embarked on a decentralization process a couple of years ago, such reform could not be implemented without the modification of the constitution. How much impact the protests had on this change and its timing that is open for debate and speculation. The protestors however have failed to gather steam and become a major force of change in Morocco as it happened in Tunisia or Egypt. Every time the Fev 20 movement announce a protest they call for a million men march but so far they never managed to bring to the streets more than 100 000 people in all the cities combined. Compare that number with more than 3 million people that came out in Casablanca alone a few months ago in support of the territorial integrity of the country. The majority of the people don't agree with these protests. They feel that Morocco is not Egypt under Mubarak, that we already have a space to work for change without these protests every week. There are problems in Morocco such as inadequate educational system, judicial system, health care...the list is long but we just don't believe that this Fev 20 movement is the answer. The people don't trust the political parties either, since they can see the management or rather the mismanagement of these parties at the local level. They are responsible for all the mess the municipalities are in. People however see, on the daily basis, the work of the king, ensuring the completion of major projects, traveling to poor remote areas and helping them which the politicians neglect. They have more faith in him than any other institution.

[Casablancais.]

Aziz Enhaili, the king will keep the religiouse affaire, and the military power.

nobody trust any polititien today with thouse powers, and im pretty sure you too, but for the rest, it'is all open for debate between parties and syndicats, and civil society.... and like you know there is parties from the extreem left who want gay parade.... to the extreem right and people who want chariia.

and for 20 of feb, i m sorry but they don't represent Moroccan, no moroccan will accept a mouvement thtat it's against music and want to cancel mawazine, the moroccan people showed them that they are a minority when over 2 million people assisted to the shows over the 8 days of the festival last week.

and the other problem with the 20 of feb, is that they don't respect the laws, last week when the autorities send them lettres to tell them not to protest for the next 2 week, and since you are moroccan you know why, you know that in rabat we had a festival with over 250 000 people that goes to the shows every night and the autority have to protect them from the people who are against the music, and in casablanca the Raja won the shampionship that week end and they parties on the street.....

they have to respect when other are on the streets, cause the festival is ones a year and the same thing for the chamiopship, but the protesters are protesting every week for the last 3 mo and if we ask them not to do so 2 weeks, they have to to follow the law.

go try to block 5 ave in new york when you dont have an autorisation and you will see how a democratie works.

[Aziz Enhaili]

Mr Ashy is very optimistic about the outcomes of the coming constitution reform in Morocco. As till today the draft still at embargo, how he could know about its content.

Contrary to Ashy's opinion, I think that this Constitution will not really democratize the regime of the king Muhammed VI. TO establish a Parlementary Monarchy (the goal of the Youth of the February 20 Movement), the democratic movement will need time, patience and a clear strategy.

Aziz Enhaili
www.tolerance.ca