If the political parties currently serving in the Moroccan parliament are genuinely committed to playing their constitutional role in preserving national stability, they can absolutely submit a motion of censure to withdraw confidence from the government.
A week into the protests led Generation Z, it has become clear that one of the demonstrators’ primary demands is the resignation of Prime Minister Aziz Akhannouch. Beneath its apparent suddenness, this call for the PM’s resignation, or dismissal, is actually the culmination of his alleged systemic involvement in numerous cases of conflict of interest, illicit enrichment, and misuse of public funds.
An aloof and haughty government
No matter how much the prime minister — who has consistently shown disdain and arrogance toward the people since taking office — tries to regain public trust in his ability or willingness to serve the nation and its citizens rather than his personal agenda, it seems now that the days of this government are numbered. Or at the very least, that is the hope of every patriotic Moroccan who feels betrayed by the current government, which has failed both the Moroccan people and the King, and has utterly failed in carrying out its responsibilities with sincerity and selflessness.
Reinforcing this diffuse sentiment of his government’s aloofness, disconnect and indifference is spokesperson Mustapha Baitas’s arrogant tone while discussing government’s response to public demands during his appearance on a program on Medi1 TV last Friday. Instead of displaying humility or acknowledging that his government’s exclusionary policies are the main reason behind the protests, he chose to shirk responsibility and responded to journalist Noufal Al-Aouamla in a rude and arrogant way.
For the crushing majority of Moroccans who watched that cringey interview, Baitas’ high-handed and dismissive response to the journalist’s question about the government’s potential plan to address protesters’ legitimate grievances spoke volumes about the misplaced priorities and institutionalized elite unaccountability. Indeed, instead of responding with tact to a question that accurately reflects the unbearable reality of most young Moroccans and low-income households across the country, he accused the journalist of acting as a spokesperson for the protesters. Worse yet, he categorically denied that the demonstrators had called for the government’s resignation.
If anyone in Morocco still holds a glimmer of hope that this government is capable of overcoming the current protests and responding to them in a way that ensures its survival, Baitas’ surreal response to Al-Aouamla made it clear to all that this government lives in a parallel world — one entirely disconnected from the reality experienced by ordinary Moroccans.
Now, the question that millions of Moroccans are asking is: what is the way forward; what solution can end the protests and help Morocco save valuable time it urgently needs to focus on the many other regional and international challenges it faces?
Like many Moroccans, I have long believed – and continue to believe – that one of the key solutions to help Morocco overcome this crisis is for King Mohammed VI to exercise the constitutional powers granted to him and move to dismiss the current government.
Unlike many commentators – some well-intentioned, others perhaps driven by hidden motives-who have claimed that the King no longer holds this power, I explained in a previous article that Article 96 of the Constitution clearly and explicitly states that the King can indirectly dismiss the head of government by dissolving one or both chambers of Parliament.
This must be done after consulting the Constitutional Court, notifying the head of government and the presidents of both parliamentary chambers, as well as delivering a royal address to the Moroccan people.
However, the issue here is that if the King chooses this path, he would create a precedent that may, in the future, encourage Moroccans to bypass institutional mechanisms and directly demand that he dismiss any government whenever they feel their grievances are not being properly addressed.
Indeed, should the King proceed with dismissing the current government, who can guarantee that Moroccan youths won’t once again demand the dismissal of the next government if it fails to meet their expectations or fulfill their demands quickly enough?
Moreover, such an action could give the impression that the King is interfering in the democratic process — however fragile or incomplete that process may be. And anyone familiar with how King Mohammed VI interacts with state institutions knows that he places great importance on ensuring that each institution fulfills its designated constitutional role.
How the motion of censure mechanism works
One of the strengths of the Moroccan Constitution is that, in addition to the powers it grants the King regarding government dismissal, it also leaves room for an alternative mechanism through which a government can be brought down if it fails to perform its duties. This alternative is the motion of censure.
According to Article 76 of the Constitution, Parliament can submit a motion of censure to withdraw confidence from the government, effectively removing it. For such a motion to proceed, it must be submitted by one or more parliamentary groups representing at least one-quarter of the members of the House of Representatives.
If the motion is accepted for debate, it must then receive an absolute majority of votes to pass.
That means the motion must secure at least 198 votes out of the total 395 members of the House of Representatives.
If the political parties currently serving in the Moroccan parliament are genuinely committed to playing their constitutional role in preserving national stability, they can absolutely submit a motion of censure to withdraw confidence from the government.
This way, they would provide a vibrant testimony of the effectiveness of the check and balances system in Morocco’s political functioning since the passing of the 2011 constitution, while sparing the King from having to intervene directly in the political crisis the country has endured for the past week.For such a motion to pass under the “absolute majority” regime in place at the Moroccan parliament, it would be enough for the Istiqlal Party (80 seats) to join the opposition bloc (105 seats), and the Democratic and Social Constitutional Group (23 seats). This would collectively add up to the 198 votes needed for the motion to succeed.
Anyone familiar with the inner workings of Moroccan political life knows well that the relationships between the three governing coalition parties are extremely fragile, and there are deep disagreements among their leaders.
Therefore, it is very possible that the Istiqlal Party might choose to back a motion of censure if public pressure on the Prime Minister intensifies and if the Moroccan people remain firm in their demand for his removal from office.
In such a scenario, the Istiqlal Party may come to see its continued participation in this government — which is widely regarded by Moroccans as the worst government since independence — as a stain on its historical legacy and a liability that could undermine its chances of playing a leading role in Morocco’s political future.
If the opposition parties were to submit a motion of censure, it would not be the first time they’ve done so during this legislative term.
Last May, the Party of Progress and Socialism (PPS) and the Justice and Development Party (PJD) submitted a motion of censure to withdraw confidence from the government and bring it down. However, their attempt failed because they were unable to secure the minimum number of votes required for their motion to be put to the vote.
A scandal-ridden government
That said, the possibility of these same parties successfully passing a motion of censure this time is significantly higher than before. The reason is that this government has been linked to numerous scandals that have been deliberately ignored due to the complicity of many media outlets that have aligned themselves with the government’s policies.
At the forefront of these scandals is the infamous 13-billion-dirham case: a sum that was supposedly allocated for importing meat to reduce prices, yet meat prices have remained prohibitively high. It was later revealed that 133 of the country’s wealthiest livestock farmers were the true beneficiaries of these funds — at the expense of the Moroccan people and the state treasury.
It is also time for the Moroccan people to learn the truth about how the prime minister’s company was awarded the desalination plant project in the Casablanca-Settat region. Likewise, it is time for this government to explain why fuel prices have continued to rise, even as global oil prices have gone down significantly.
How can it be acceptable for this government to continue siphoning state funds, while its affiliates grow obscenely wealthy, all while the social conditions of millions of Moroccans continue to deteriorate?
The opposition’s hour of truth
If Nabil Benabdallah, Secretary-General of the Party of Progress and Socialism, and Abdelilah Benkirane, Secretary-General of the Justice and Development Party, are serious about fulfilling their political roles and showing Moroccans that there are still political figures with the leadership, vision, and courage needed to rebuild public trust in the country’s constitutional institutions, then the time to act is now.
Now is their golden opportunity to land the knockout punch on the disfigured and disgraced face of a government that has, over the past week, taken constant blows from a Moroccan people that feels betrayed and has made it clear that it wants this government gone. If they allow this Overton window to close without taking the necessary action to remove the Akhannouch government, they risk prolonging the country’s socio-political malaise while defining their political legacy as one deplorable inaction and passivity at the hour of truth.
And as someone who proudly supports the Istiqlal Party, as a family tradition even though I myself am not a member of the party, I appeal directly to Nizar Baraka, the party’s Secretary-General, who is widely recognized for his integrity. I call on him to distance himself from this government in order to preserve the historic and symbolic value of the Istiqlal Party, which is the oldest political party in Morocco.
Despite the scourge of corruption that has plagued Morocco for decades — and that has grown to unprecedented levels in recent years — the country has made significant progress in improving its macroeconomic indicators, increasing its GDP at record levels, and launching an unprecedented infrastructure development program.
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