Headlines Morocco Uncategorized

Morocco-elections: The two major duelists share top spots

Communal and regional elections were held in Morocco on Friday and the winners are without contest the Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM) and the ruling Party for Justice and Development (PJD/moderate Islamist,) led by the head of the Government Abdelilah Benkirane. The PAM (Liberal, opposition) won the communal polls and came in second in the […]

Columns Opinions

Morocco: Local & Regional Elections, a rendezvous with History

Some 14 million voters go to the polls this Friday September 4 to elect 31,503 members of communal councils and 678 representatives to sit at the newly created regional councils that are part of the regionalization process the country is set to embark on as stipulated by the Constitution adopted in 2011. These local and […]

Columns Features Opinions

A New Moroccan Party is Born, Will it Redesign the Political Landscape?

The Neo-Democrats is the name of a new Moroccan political party that held its constituent assembly over the weekend amidst questions about the timeliness and usefulness of the move given the excessive number of political parties- thirty three according to 2013 figures- in a country with a population of some 35 million soul. While many […]

Features Headlines Morocco

Morocco’s Opposition Questioning Government’s Social Policy

Moroccan opposition is calling for a brush-up of the government’s social policies claiming that they do not yield expected outcomes or they have an impact on targeted groups. The opposition questions Prime Minister Abdelilah Benkirane and attacked him for not fulfilling his promises on labour market, health, housing, education, and poverty alleviation. According to Hakim […]

Portrait Profile

Moroccan Nizar Baraka, Finance Minister of the Year 2013

After he had been elected best Finance Minister for the MENA region for 2012 and Minister of Finance of the year 2012 by the «The Banker», a magazine of the Financial Times press group, Morocco’s former Minister of Economy and Finance, Nizar Baraka, earned another consecration in 2013, this time from the World Bank and […]

Headlines Morocco

Morocco: King Launches An Educational System Reform

King Mohammed VI of Morocco has vehemently criticized the shortcomings of the educational system in his country blaming the current government, led by the Islamist Justice and Development Party (PJD) for the inadequate policy followed in the sector. In an unusually severe and critical tone, Mohammed VI deplored in a speech he made on Tuesday […]

Features Headlines Morocco

Morocco : Towards a Cabinet Reshuffle or Early Election ?

After almost two months of shilly shallying, the ministers from the Istiqlal Party, the main component of the coalition government, led by the Islamist Party for Justice and Development (PJD), have handed in their resignation to the head of government on Tuesday. The resignation may pave the way to ending the political crisis either through […]

Features Headlines Morocco

Morocco: will the King’s arbitration defuse the governmental crisis?

The Istiqlal Party on Wednesday handed over to King Mohammed VI a memorandum expounding the reasons behind the decision it made last May to withdraw from the coalition government led by the Islamist PJD (Party for Justice and Development). The audience granted by the sovereign to the Istiqlal Party’s Secretary General Hamid Chabat is placed […]

Headlines Morocco

Istiqlal Withdrawal from Governing Coalition: Does Chabat want to become Caliph instead of the Caliph Benkirane.

The National Council of the Istiqlal Party decided on Saturday to withdraw from the Moroccan coalition government led by the Islamist Party for Justice and development (PJD). The decision was not a surprise to analysts who see in it the normal outcome of the fierce and controversial opposition the Istiqlal Party’s Secretary General Hamid Chabat […]

Culture Features Lifestyle

Golden Age of Morocco’s Jewish Community will never Die

A synagogue has been refurbished and inaugurated by a Head of a government. This is no news, if the event is taking place somewhere in Europe, the Americas or inside Israel. But when the synagogue is located inside the walls of the spiritual capital of an Islamic State, when it is dedicated, after having been […]