Morocco’s governing coalition just gained new legislative seats.
By Siham Ali in Rabat for Magharebia
![[AFP/Abdelhak Senna] Morocco's ruling coalition just won another five seats in legislative by-elections.](http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/images/2013/03/08/130308Feature3Photo1.jpg)
[AFP/Abdelhak Senna] Morocco’s ruling coalition just won another five seats in legislative by-elections.
Moroccan voters just sent a strong message to the opposition by awarding all five seats up for grabs to the ruling coalition.
After the 2011 legislative elections, results for eleven parliamentary seats were declared invalid. The 4-party ruling coalition, which claimed four of the disputed seats in earlier by-elections, gained five more on February 28th.
The Istiqlal party won three seats, while the Party of Progress and Socialism (PPS) and the Justice and Development Party (PJD) each added one. The Popular Movement (MP) gained no new seats.
The opposition has been relentlessly fierce in its criticism of the government and has accused the coalition of losing its popularity.
Popular Movement leader Mohamed Moubdiaa said that the recent results were a clear sign of the public’s confidence in the government, despite the critical remarks levelled at it from all directions.
He also said that this situation should spur the governing coalition to satisfy the public’s many demands.
Big challenges await the coalition, which has been dogged by internal conflicts over the past few months, political analyst Hamid Sendoussi said.
“The coalition parties would do well to pull together to deal with the economic and social challenges,” he noted.
“Recently they have engaged in tussles which are harming the coalition’s image and give the impression that they are not acting in the public interest. Despite that, their candidates have managed to rally voters in their favour,” he said.
The government will play this card against the opposition, he added.
Meanwhile, the opposition said that the government should not be complacent, since by-elections are not an indicator of the electoral weight of the different parties.
The by-elections were more about local issues than politics, according to Socialist Union of Popular Forces (USFP) parliamentarian Mehdi Mezouari.
“I don’t think it was the government’s decisions that spurred people to vote for the coalition’s candidates. In addition, irregularities were even announced by the coalition parties, including with regard to the use of money and local authority intervention,” he said.
The opposition also highlighted the profile of voters and claims that the government failed to rally the middle class, which usually refrains from voting.
Many Moroccans say they are not interested in conflicts between the coalition and the opposition, but in the steps that need to be taken to improve the socio-economic situation.
The verbal exchanges between politicians in parliament or in the media do nothing to improve the daily lives of thousands of people, student Ahmed Chenbi said.
“The government is delighted with its victory in the elections. That is its right. But now it needs to get to work and focus less on talk which does not help to resolve thorny issues such as employment and pensions,” he said.
