It is a domination of nearly a decade that is coming to an end.
The historic rout of the Islamist party in the legislative elections in Morocco is confirmed with the full results of the municipal and regional elections published this Friday.
For the first time, the approximately 18 million Moroccan voters chose their 395 deputies on the same day, Wednesday, as their municipal and regional representatives.
At the national level, the Justice and Development Party (PJD, moderate Islamist), in power for a decade, suffered an unexpected defeat with only 13 deputies elected against 125 in the previous assembly, according to the results of the ministry. of the Interior after counting all the ballots.
The PJD comes far behind its main rivals, the National Rally of Independents (RNI), the Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM), two liberal parties considered to be close to the royal palace, and the historic Istiqlal party (PI, center right ) which respectively received 102, 86, 81 seats (out of 395).
Stinging defeat at municipal and regional levels
In the municipal elections, the Islamists suffered a spectacular collapse, dropping from 5,021 seats to 777. He thus lost control of the large cities he led, such as Rabat, Marrakech, Fez as well as the two major economic centers of Casablanca and Tangier.
It was largely overtaken by the RNI and the PAM which won 9,995 and 6,210 seats (out of a total of 31,503).
Finally, in the regions, the results of the Justice and Development Party also plummet, with 18 seats against 174 in the previous local elections in 2015. The RNI and the Istiqlal Party come out on top with 196 and 144 seats respectively. a total of 678. The RNI, which is part of the governing coalition, is headed by a wealthy businessman, Aziz Akhannouch, described as close to the palace.
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King Mohammed VI must appoint a head of government, from the party that won the legislative ballot, responsible for forming an executive for a five-year term.
He will succeed Saad Eddine El Othmani, who resigned Thursday from the leadership of the PJD.
On Friday, the weekly Al Ayam headlined “the tragic end of the Islamists”, while the daily L'Economiste evoked a “massive disavowal” for the PJD.
In 2011, Morocco adopted a new Constitution granting wide prerogatives to Parliament and the government.
However, decisions and orientations in key sectors continue to emanate from initiatives of King Mohammed VI.