The electoral process is considered to be a mechanism that pushes the country towards democracy by separating powers, consolidating the rule of law and strengthening the link between responsibility and accountability. That is to say, attaining the credibility of policy.
In the Moroccan context things are different. While the political practice is distinguished by the monarchy’s decisive role, not just in the political life but almost in all other domains including economy, religion and culture, any attempt to change the reality is undoubtedly bound to fail, due to the fact that any intention to seek change would be certainly foiled by the regime.
Over the last six decades, we can easily see that all the elections have always been nominal owing to the constant tactics of the regime to maintain the balance of the political spectrum. During its long existence, the political practice of the regime enabled it to develop its ways to keep itself strong, and keep the political sphere under control. This is done mostly by creating new parties, or in some other occasions by launching campaigns of distortion and incitement that significantly contributed to altering public opinion. This includes also manipulating the rabbles who have a lack of political vision and are easy to mobilize for or against any case. A case in point of the aforementioned statement is what happened when the manifestations of the February 20th movement reached their peak.
These and other tactics preserve the strategy of making any political factor fully impotent. There are no great examinations required to detect the authoritarian nature of the Moroccan regime, which is obsolete albeit equipped with sophisticated tools. Yet, all these reasons and circumstances I have mentioned should not prevent us from taking part in any upcoming electoral process. The authoritarian regime in Morocco will act positively in a trajectory. That consolidates its continuity instead of change and democratization, irrespective of a tiny margin of freedom given, but at least it will muddle its calculations.
Before the 2011 constitutional amendment, there had never been any real political practice, neither transparent elections nor accountability. But now things have changed partly.
Despite the boycotts in a region in which illiteracy still is at high rates, it would be meaningless and a gift to the so-called “deep state” if we allowed it to keep scheming to preserve its interests.
The public debate has moved towards a “participatory democracy” while most Arab countries are still undergoing authoritarian regimes, or at best “authoritarian resilience.” Thus, the overall aim of participation in the electoral processes is to consolidate efforts toward the transformation to democracy.
