Though differences exist between America's type of government (presidential republic) and Morocco's (constitutional monarchy), parts of their Legislative and Executive Branches resemble one another.
Today's focus is a continued look at Morocco's Legislative Branch (and the political parties that are represented in it) as well as a closer look into the Executive Branch with an introduction to the King's cabinet. As a reference point, I'll also include a look at their American counterparts.
As mentioned yesterday, the Legislative branch - like America's - consists of two parts. However, the number of seats and length of terms between the two countries differ considerably. Morocco's Chamber of Counselors (or Senate, if you will) consists of 270 seats, each held for nine years. One-third of the seats change every three years. Comparatively, the US Senate holds 100 seats with six-year terms and staggered elections.
The Moroccan Chamber of Representatives has 325 seats (compared to America's 435). Representatives are elected by popular vote every five years to serve five-year terms, which are considerably longer than the two-year terms that US Representatives serve.
Results from the most recent elections may point us in a direction where we can begin to identify and better understand the more prominent political parties in the country. This is necessary, as the CIA World Factbook listed over 30 relevant parties as of March.
The Chamber of Counselors election in 2003 (the latest with 'results by party' that I could find) resulted in seats predominantly divided among 10 parties: the RNI with 42 seats, MDS: 33, UC: 28, MP: 27, PND: 21, PI: 21, USFP: 16, MNP: 15, PA: 13, FFD: 12.
Results from the most recent Chamber of Representatives election in 2007 show that 10 parties primarily control the larger "lower house:" the PI won 52 seats, PJD: 46, MP: 41, RNI: 39, USFP: 38, UC: 27, PPS: 17, FFD: 9, MDS: 9, Al Ahd: 8.
From these numbers alone, the PI, RNI, UC, MP, USFP, MDS and FFD look well-represented in both chambers. However, eight years have passed since the data collected on the Chamber of Counselors and may not accurately reflect the strength of some parties or the present makeup of the Moroccan "Senate."
A quick look at the full names of these parties can give us a little insight regarding their outlooks; additionally, I hope to learn more about their current objectives by identifying and looking at their current leaders in the future. Unfortunately, I've been warned that words like "socialist" and even "democratic" may have different interpretations than what we're used to in the United States.
UC: Constitutional Union Party, led by Mohammed Abied
MDS: Democratic and Social Movement: Mahmoud Archane
FFD: Democratic Forces Front: Touhami El-Khiari
PI: Istiqlal (Independence) Party: Abbas El-Fassi
RNI: National Rally of Independents: Mustapha El-Mansouri
MP: Popular Movement: Mohamed Laenser
USFP: Socialist Union of Popular Forces: Abdelwahed Radi
Not officially represented in the government but possibly as involved, the ugly cousin to the recognized political party may just be the political pressure group. Most countries have them, and my favorite source names five of them in Morocco, each of whom have the words "labor," "workers" or "employers" in their titles.
Moving to the Executive Branch, the King's Cabinet looks like President Obama's more than I originally thought. Morocco's Executive Cabinet consists of 25 Ministers and at least four Cabinet-level officers that include the Prime Minister, Secretary General of the Government, Governor of the Bank of Morocco and Permanent Representative to the UN.
Though smaller, the United States Executive Cabinet is divided into 15 Departments that resemble the Moroccan Ministries and another seven Cabinet-level officers that include the Vice President, White House Chief of Staff, Director of the Office of Management and Budget, Administrator of the EPA, Trade Representative, Ambassador to the UN, and Chairperson to the Council of Economic Advisors.
As of March, the King's Cabinet consists of five Cabinet-level Officers and 25 Ministers. They are:
Prime Minister: Abbas El-Fassi
Secretary General of the Government: Abdessadek Rabii
Governor, Bank al-Magrib: Abdellatif Jouahri
Ambassador to the US: Aziz Mekouar
Permanent Representative to the UN, New York: Mohammed Loulichki
Minister of Agriculture, Rural Development, & Sea Fisheries: Aziz Akhenouch
Minister of Communications & Government Spokesperson: Khalid Naciri
Minister of Culture: Bensalem Himmich
Minister of Economy & Finance: Salaheddine Mezouar
Minister of Employment & Vocational Training: Jamal Aghmani
Minister of Energy, Mines, Water & Environment: Amina Benkhadra
Minister of Equipment & Transport: Karim Ghellab
Minister of Foreign Affairs & Cooperation: Taieb Fassi-Fihri
Minister of Foreign Trade: Abdelatif Maazouz
Minister of Habous & Islamic Affairs: Ahmed Toufiq
Minister of Health: Yasmina Baddou
Minister of Industry, Commerce & New Technologies: Ahmed Chami
Minister of Interior: Taieb Cherkaoui
Minister of Justice: Mohammed Naciri
Minister of National Education, Higher Education, Staff Training & Scientific Research: Ahmed Akhchichine
Minister of Social Development, Family & Solidarity: Nouzha Skalli
Minister of State: Mohamed El-Yazghi
Minister of State: Mohand Laenser
Minister of Tourism, Handicrafts & Social Economy: Yassir Znagui
Minister of Youth & Sport: Moncef Belkhayat
Minister in Charge of Relations with Parliament: Driss Lachgar
Minister-Delegate to the Minister of Foreign Affairs & Cooperation in Charge of Moroccan Expatriate Affairs: Mohamed Ameur
Minister-Delegate to the Prime Minister in Charge of the Admin. of National Defense: Abdelatif El-Oudi
Minister-Delegate to the Prime Minister in Charge of General & Economic Affairs: Nizar Baraka
Minister-Delegate to the Prime Minister in Charge of Urbanization & Housing: Ahmed Toufiq Hejira
Though admittedly dry, I've enjoyed putting together the past couple days' posts, as they've been a much-needed start to my future goals at Al Akhawayn. Hopefully, a couple of points opened your eyes not only to the Moroccan government but your own.
* For most of the information on the Legislative Branch, I used the same webpage from yesterday.
* For the 2003 election results for the Chamber of Counselors, I used: http://www.cosmoworlds.com/country_information/morocco.html
*For the King's Cabinet, I used the following source: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/world-leaders-1/world-leaders-m/morocco.html
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