Moroccan Elections: Votes A Dime A Dozen

In an expression of deepening discontent and rising popular cynicism, a procession of dozens of Moroccans led by a nonchalant barebacked herd of donkeys walked, last Tuesday, the streets of Nador in northern Morocco to protest an upcoming communal elections fraught with broad-based fraud, violence, intimidation, and political manipulation at the highest levels of the government. The protestors shouted slogans and carried banners denouncing the unethical practice by the candidates and the parties they represent of buying votes with cash or in-kind services. It has been rumored that a vote goes for 500 MAD (56 USD) and will increase as election day nears. Some have sold their vote for nothing more than a loaf of bread and a cup of tea. The protest was meant as a parody of the democratic electoral process and governance in Morocco.

The Moroccan government has introduced new registration and voting procedures designed to lessen, if not eradicate, election fraud and enhance transparency. The initiative has been hailed as a success by Azzedine Akesby, Transparency Maroc chief. Others, like Lahcen Daoudi of the Justice and Development Party, consider such governmental measures as ineffective and inveigh against the authorities’ unwillingness to seriously address electoral fraud. Interior Minister Chakib Benmoussa squarely put the onus of cleaning up the election on the political parties when he advised them, during an awareness raising campaign last April, to nominate scrupulous candidates.

The elections, which, in essence, should augur a positive political and social change by advancing national unity and the interests of the constituencies over those of the political parties and the government, has instead fueled tensions, by exposing political, ethnic, and tribal tensions and personal feuds among those vying for political power. Observers of the campaigns have been astounded by the frequency of violent physical confrontations between candidates and their supporters. The rallies organized by different parties have been cacophonous and laced with violent threats that the authorities have been incapable of muting. The reaction of the police force lashes between total inertia and outright excessive force using batons, tear gas, and water cannons as their intervention in Mohammadi on June 3rd, when a violent confrontation between supporters and canvassers of Assala Wa Al-Mouassara (Authenticity and Modernity) and those of Tajammou’ Al-Watani Lilahrar (National Assembly of Independents) erupted, demonstrates.

In a country the constitution of which prohibits the delegation of authority and where the monarch enjoys exclusive ascendency, the argument for putative democratic and principled elections that vindicate social equality and respect for the citizens is moot. High ranking political incumbents, in a flagrant abuse of their governmental office, routinely exert undue influence on the election process to give the edge to political parties whose agenda is aligned with the current government and the monarch. In fact, it is impossible to see the election of a political party that stands at odds with the king. Candidates and political parties, such as  Al Badil Al Hadari (civilizational Alternative) and Al Ishtiraki Al-Mouwahad (united socialist Party), that do not ally themselves with the governmental patronage see their electoral means drastically reduced and their members persecuted. Recently, the Moroccan media reported that the government allowed the Territorial Security Department to eavesdrop on the communications of over a hundred and thirty candidates; such drastic measure was justified by the Justice Minister, Abdelwahid Arradi, as necessary to “uphold the letter of the law and advance democracy” and as a means to prevent electoral bribery, racketeering, and fraud. Since such a controversial measure was disclosed to the media, one can safely assume the government meant for it to be a deterrent rather than a result-driven initiative. Some see the security measure as indicative of the government’s trepidation about foreign influence in the election and designed to ascertain the integrity of the candidates’ fealty to the king.

The Nador procession was promptly confronted by the police and everybody was herded to jail. In a show of mercy, and maybe to send a message, the government will not prosecute the donkeys.

A. T. B. Copyright © 2009