General elections were held in Morocco on 27 September 2002. The elections were the first since King Mohammed VI of Morocco had come to the throne in 1999 and international observers saw it as a test of his commitment to democracy.[1] The election saw an Islamist party the Justice and Development Party make strong gains but the outgoing government kept a majority in the Assembly of Representatives.
 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
325 seats in the House of Representatives 163 seats needed for a majority | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Campaign
editThe election took place under a revised voting system in which 325 deputies were elected from 91 constituencies.[1] The new rules guaranteed women would be at least 10% of the Assembly of Representatives by reserving 30 seats for them.[2] In total 5,865 candidates from 26 political parties and 5 lists of independents stood in the election including 965 female candidates.[2][3] With many voters illiterate, each party had different symbols such as a car, alarm clock, horse, wasp or lamp which were printed on the ballot paper for voters to select.[4]
Even the prime minister, Abderrahmane Youssoufi, agreed that previous elections in Morocco had been rigged but the new King Mohammed VI had pledged that this election should be kept free. Indeed, observers at polling stations reported that the election was much cleaner than previous elections.[4] The campaign itself was low key with a low turnout expected. Issues raised in the campaign included rising prices, a salary freeze, economic stability and improvements in education and public health.[3] Poverty and unemployment, combined with the powers which the King had reserved to himself meant many people saw little reason to vote.[1][2]
The only Islamist party to stand in the election, the Justice and Development Party, did not stand in all of the seats to ensure it would not provoke violence such as had occurred in neighbouring Algeria after the 1991 election.[4] They supported the introduction of Islamic law but pledged to work within the existing political system.[5] The banned Islamist group Al Adl Wa Al Ihssane was seen as being the popular group in the country but called on supporters to boycott the election as they said it would achieve nothing.[4]
Results
editThe results saw the Justice and Development Party make strong gains and over doubled its vote share to become the third largest party in parliament.[6] However the parties that made up the previous coalition kept a strong majority in the legislature with the Socialist Union of Popular Forces remaining the largest party.[6] Women won 35 seats in the legislature,[3] a big increase from the two who had been elected in the 1997 election.[7]
Following the election King Mohammed VI appointed the interior minister Driss Jettou as prime minister[8] and a new government was formed with roughly the same political parties supporting the coalition as before the election.[9]
| Party | Votes | % | Seats | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Local | National | Total | +/– | |||||
| Socialist Union of Popular Forces | 718,725 | 11.88 | 45 | 5 | 50 | –7 | ||
| Istiqlal Party | 598,226 | 9.89 | 44 | 4 | 48 | +16 | ||
| Justice and Development Party | 595,439 | 9.84 | 38 | 4 | 42 | +33 | ||
| National Rally of Independents | 561,514 | 9.28 | 37 | 4 | 41 | –5 | ||
| Popular Movement | 396,932 | 6.56 | 25 | 2 | 27 | –13 | ||
| National Popular Movement | 312,239 | 5.16 | 16 | 2 | 18 | –1 | ||
| Constitutional Union | 310,939 | 5.14 | 14 | 2 | 16 | –34 | ||
| Front of Democratic Forces | 296,288 | 4.90 | 10 | 2 | 12 | +3 | ||
| National Democratic Party | 275,884 | 4.56 | 10 | 2 | 12 | +2 | ||
| Party of Progress and Socialism | 275,024 | 4.55 | 9 | 2 | 11 | +2 | ||
| Democratic Union | 244,558 | 4.04 | 9 | 1 | 10 | New | ||
| Democratic Socialist Party | 179,131 | 2.96 | 6 | 0 | 6 | +1 | ||
| Democratic and Social Movement | 163,546 | 2.70 | 7 | 0 | 7 | –25 | ||
| Al-ʽAhd | 138,186 | 2.28 | 5 | 0 | 5 | New | ||
| Alliance of Liberties | 131,796 | 2.18 | 4 | 0 | 4 | New | ||
| National Ittihadi Congress | 120,330 | 1.99 | 1 | 0 | 1 | New | ||
| Reform and Development Party | 110,633 | 1.83 | 3 | 0 | 3 | New | ||
| Citizens' Forces | 104,247 | 1.72 | 2 | 0 | 2 | New | ||
| Environment and Development Party | 90,609 | 1.50 | 2 | 0 | 2 | New | ||
| Moroccan Liberal Party | 82,088 | 1.36 | 3 | 0 | 3 | New | ||
| Party of the Unified Socialist Left | 81,985 | 1.35 | 3 | 0 | 3 | –1 | ||
| Democratic Independence Party | 61,258 | 1.01 | 2 | 0 | 2 | +1 | ||
| Citizen Initiative for Development | 49,710 | 0.82 | 0 | 0 | 0 | New | ||
| Party of Renewal and Equity | 39,483 | 0.65 | 0 | 0 | 0 | New | ||
| Action Party | 28,563 | 0.47 | 0 | 0 | 0 | –2 | ||
| Independents | 83,346 | 1.38 | 0 | 0 | 0 | New | ||
| Total | 6,050,679 | 100.00 | 295 | 30 | 325 | 0 | ||
| Valid votes | 6,050,679 | 84.45 | ||||||
| Invalid/blank votes | 1,114,527 | 15.55 | ||||||
| Total votes | 7,165,206 | 100.00 | ||||||
| Registered voters/turnout | 13,884,467 | 51.61 | ||||||
| Source: García | ||||||||
References
edit- ^ a b c "Moroccan poll will test commitment to democracy". Financial Times. 27 September 2002. p. 13.
- ^ a b c Leicester, John (28 September 2002). "Moroccans to elect 30 female MPs". The Scotsman. p. 13.
- ^ a b c "MOROCCO: parliamentary elections Majliss-annouwab, 2002". Inter-Parliamentary Union. Retrieved 13 May 2009.
- ^ a b c d Tremlett, Giles (28 September 2002). "In brief: Islamists hold key to Moroccan elections: King relaxes reins to allow first step towards real democracy". The Guardian. p. 15.
- ^ Leicester, John (29 September 2002). "Moroccan fundamentalist party in election gains". Scotland on Sunday. p. 24.
- ^ a b Wilkinson, Isambard (30 September 2002). "Islamic upsurge in Morocco poll". The Daily Telegraph. p. 41.
- ^ "MOROCCO: parliamentary elections Majlis Nawab, 1997". Inter-Parliamentary Union. Retrieved 13 May 2009.
- ^ "Moroccan king names new Cabinet, no rep from Islamic party". Toronto Star. 8 November 2002. Archived from the original on 8 October 2012.
- ^ "Morocco unveils new coalition". BBC Online. 8 November 2002.