VideoNews US
By Mustafa Pazarlı
Justice and Development party in Morocco won this year’s municipal elections.
Since the Arab Spring, Islamic parties have succeeded in reaching power in many Arab Spring countries.
Most of them, however, failed to remain in power for long, including the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and the Nahda Party in Tunisia.
But the Justice and Development Party in Morocco is an exception, especially after its success in September’s municipal elections.
According to Moroccan political analysts, the successes that the PJD achieved can be attributed to a number of reasons.
Idrees al-Kareeny, a law professor at Qadi Iyad University, said that Islamic parties in Arab Spring countries should not be grouped together as one, because each party has its own political and social background and environment.
PJD encountered several difficulties when it was first established. However, it gradually transformed itself, which helped it achieve success in municipal elections earlier this year.
PJD had participated in the political sphere before the Arab Spring and avoided political and intellectual conflicts surrounding a number controversial issues.
Also, the weakness of some opposition parties, like the Independence Party and the Socialist Union of Popular Forces party (USFP), was one of the main reasons for the development and success of PJD in this year’s elections.
“The recent municipal elections .. proved that the party has real popularity,” al-Kareeny said. “PJD is fully aware of the surrounding environment in the Arab countries, and it deals with the changes with a complete and distinguished intelligence.”
PJD came in first place during this year’s municipal elections, even though the party came in sixth in the 2009 elections.
– Ahmed Amin contributed to this report.
