RABAT: Moroccans voted on Friday in local polls seen as a test for the ruling Islamists, who swept to power nearly four years ago after Arab Spring protests prompted reforms by the monarchy.

About 15 million Moroccans were eligible to vote in the municipal and regional polls, considered a gauge of the popularity of Prime Minister Abdelilah Benkirane and his government, a year ahead of a general election.

In 2011, Benkirane’s Justice and Development Party (PJD) became the North African country’s first Islamist party to win a national election, and the first to lead a government.

That vote followed concessions from King Mohammed VI, the scion of a monarchy that has ruled the country for 350 years.

A new constitution curbed some, but not all, of his near-absolute powers as autocratic regimes toppled in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya.

Previously the monarch could choose his prime minister. Now he must appoint a candidate from the party that wins the most seats in parliament.

Around 32,000 seats on local and regional councils were at stake in Friday’s vote, which will offer a snapshot of the political climate.

Polling stations which opened at 8am were due to close at 7pm.

Benkirane, who voted in the capital Rabat, said that “Morocco is taking a decisive step towards democracy”.

Habiba Ramzi, a woman voter in her 80s, said she hopes that the winning candidates “will think about the poor this time”.

To those candidates I say ‘enough corruption and lies’,” she said, adding that she wanted to see more being done to improve education. A total of 140,000 candidates are standing.

Benkirane remains popular in the conservative country, despite limited success in tackling corruption, and is credited with lowering the budget deficit to less than five percent of gross domestic product, down from seven.—AFP

Published in Dawn, September 5th, 2015

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