After his return to the leadership of Justice and Development .. Will Benkirane succeed in reviving the project of Moroccan Islamists?

After five years spent in his home, overlooking from time to time his followers, fans and supporters from his home hall via Facebook, Abdelilah Benkirane, the new old Secretary General of the Justice and Development Party, returned to the political arena again after his predecessor, Saad Eddin El Othmani, had ended. His term at the head of the party suffered a resounding defeat in the Moroccan legislative elections that were held on September 8th.

The return of Benkirane at the head of his party not only promises many internal changes, but will undoubtedly have an important impact on the Moroccan political scene, which currently lacks the opposition figure with a heavy weight, after the recent elections failed to produce a strong opposition following the entry of the first three parties into an alliance Solid government.

Trying to save a party collapsing

The decline of the Justice and Development Party, which has an Islamic background, did not come as a surprise to observers of internal political affairs in the Kingdom of Morocco. The rule for a decade consumed the brothers of Saad Eddin El Othmani and ate their balance, but no one expected the fall to be so resounding. What the defeat of Justice and Development means for many was the second solution behind the National Rally of Independents, which sharpened all its electoral weapons to win the recent elections, but not for the Islamists to lose 90% of their seats at once.

In the decade leading up to the Arab Spring, PJD was always seen as a party that was characterized by organizational readiness, and most importantly independence from the Ministry of Interior, as well as a disciplined parliamentary team. Thanks to these data, and other things such as its conservative background, the party was able to reach a semi-stable middle-class voting bloc. The party was also considered the next alternative to a number of traditional parties that have alternated at the head of the Moroccan government since the country's independence, especially since citizens' trust in the old political parties reached a low level during the electoral elections of September 2007, reaching only 37%. (1)

Abdel Rahman Allal, a Moroccan researcher in the affairs of the Islamist movement, divides the political stages of the Justice and Development Party into three different stages in his research paper. It won 46 seats after they started the political process with only 9 seats. Justice and Development was able to lay its organizational foundations and formulate its ideological and political orientation at that stage, on which it will rely in its upcoming political battles. (2)

Then the second stage began with the arrival of the winds of the Arab Spring to the countries of the Maghreb, although the winds were not as severe as other Arab capitals have known. From 2011, the party took advantage of the new political situation to reach power, and despite the great constraints that Moroccan Islamists experienced, with the collapse of some Islamic experiences in the region starting in 2013 after counter-revolutions regained some of their power, the party won a second term in 2017 and swept cities The largest in the communal elections, the Islamists headed by a comfortable majority in Casablanca, Rabat, Salé, Marrakesh, Fez, Tangiers and Agadir.

However, this high curve began to decline in the last stage, which was brought down with the party’s exit with only 13 seats in this year’s elections, a sharp decline that had several previous indications, most notably the dismissal of Benkirane, the party’s strongman, from the tasks of forming the government after his failure to Reaching an agreement with the rest of the parties. This exemption had a strong internal resonance, as a large number of followers stood behind the former Secretary-General within the walls of Justice and Development, and they did not agree with the way in which the new leadership under the leadership of Othmani orchestrated the stage that followed the exemption of Benkirane, after it unconditionally accepted all the demands The other parties, led by the National Rally of Independents, agreed to participate in the government.

The party tried to contain the division by organizing an internal dialogue that discussed the post-Benkirane phase, but all these attempts did not provide anything new. In the end, the party entered a wounded government, exhausted by internal divisions, to an electoral merit that ended with a surprise that snatched away the groans of the enemy before the friend, and with a defeat that returned To the spotlight is the name of Abdelilah Benkirane, whose imagination did not leave the party's headquarters in the Lemon neighborhood in Rabat, as he continued from his home to comment on the political calamities that have befallen the party since leaving the presidency, gaining thousands of followers for his comments. (3)

2008 scenario: Clacket for the second time

Despite the media coverage of a number of the names of the leaders of the second generation to succeed Saad Eddine El Othmani, who submitted his resignation immediately after the results of the September 8 elections, such as the famous parliamentarian Abdullah Bouano and Abdelaziz Ammari, the former mayor of Casablanca, Benkirane did not He finds it difficult to win the General Chair again after obtaining 82% of the votes, which is a second victory that was achieved after a first victory in which he was able to overthrow the previous General Secretariat’s plan to specify the mandate of the new Secretary-General by one year, provided that a regular conference is held at a later time to cancel The results of the recently announced extraordinary conference. (4)

Since its establishment, Justice and Development has been headed by only three trustees: "Abdul Karim al-Khatib", who played the role of mediator in bringing Benkirane and his brothers into the political arena, and Benkirane himself, then Saad Eddine Othmani. The last scenario in which Benkirane outperformed his party colleague is nothing but a carbon copy of what happened in 2008, when he managed to seize the leadership seat for reasons that are close to matching the current circumstances.

In July 2008, the rules of justice and development voted against Secretary-General Saad Eddine El Othmani to change him in favor of Abdelilah Benkirane, and the change was not due to El Othmani's reigning on the party throne only for ten years, or his failure to achieve victory in the 2007 elections in which he came second after the Istiqlal Party -Although that was undoubtedly among the reasons-, but the real reason was the protest against the political performance of the Ottoman Empire. (5)

Members of the Justice and Development regard Al-Othmani with great respect, as he is a model of a balanced and tactful political leader who imposes his respect on everyone inside and outside the Islamic movement. The Casablanca terrorist bombings in May 2003. During that period, Al-Othmani was able to lead his party to safety, and showed a positive image that restored the confidence of the palace, and the justice and development of a number of Western powers became a model against which to measure the extent of moderation or extremism of other Islamic parties and movements. And the extent to which it deserves the confidence of the West. (6)

However, this harmonic model, although useful at times, it is undesirable at other times. The rules of justice and development blamed Al-Othmani for his jump on the issue of Islamic identity, as the man is considered one of the most prominent theorists of separating the lawsuit from the political and isolating the movement for monotheism and reform from the party, and he wrote in that his famous study “The Conjugation of the Messenger by the Imamate”, in which he separated the Messenger - may God’s prayers and peace be upon him He was a prophet and explained his role as a ruler. (7)

Al-Othmani tried to download this theoretical aspect to the reality of his party, but this download not only distanced the Justice and Development from the legitimate and ideological battles, but also kept it away from issues that gained almost unanimity within the Moroccan Muslim community, such as the issue of secret gay marriage in the city of “Al-Qasr Al-Kabir”, and organizing a party A public tasting of wines in the city of Meknes, headed by a mayor from the Justice and Development, in addition to the return of the issue of Western missionaries to the spotlight after revealing their activity in the Christianization of the people of the Atlas Mountains. Al-Othmani considered that it would be better to retire these issues, and his party contented itself with issuing some modest communiqués after these files were barely forgotten. (8)

Islamists know that continuity in the political arena in Morocco sometimes requires grabbing the stick from the middle and bowing before the mighty waves, but these tactical withdrawals do not have to be the only way to practice politics. Hence, party members preferred to give Benkirane a new opportunity, as they wanted a man capable of confrontation, and despite Benkirane’s extreme pragmatism, and passing the party’s interest sometimes in contradiction to his background, he knows that there is no presence of justice and development, and no possibility to practice “moderation”, except on an Islamic ground in The original no matter how hard this floor is.

Benkirane led the party between 2008-2017, but the necessity necessitated his departure and handing over the leadership to Othmani, with the difficulty of having two different men controlling the party and government directions at the same time. However, El Othmani’s consensual personality was too much, according to his critics, accelerating the party bases’ desire for Benkirane to return, especially after leaking a set of “data” accusing first-ranking leaders in the party of having engaged in a “conspiracy” to overthrow Benkirane in favor of El Othmani, which caused splits and battles. A harsh internal situation that negatively affected the political performance of the Islamists, and then on the confidence of the party bases in the leadership, and the confidence of citizens in the entire party. (9)

Identity, reconciliation, and leadership of the opposition

The General Secretariat of the Justice and Development Party led by Abdelilah Benkirane will face a number of challenges that he will be forced to overcome in order to restore confidence in the project of Morocco's Islamists. The first of these challenges, undoubtedly, is the attempt to restore the party’s Islamic character, which has faded in recent years, with party leaders repeating their assertion that Justice and Development is just an ordinary political party like the rest of the political parties.

During his stay away from the internal affairs of the "Al-Misbah Party", Benkirane was keen to comment on a number of issues that affected the Islamic identity of the party, and he saw many times that the concessions made by his brothers could not pass without real criticism, because they were in stark contrast with the religious background that It should be respected in the practice of politics. The new Secretary-General of Justice and Development went out in more than one "live broadcast" on his official page on the social networking site "Facebook", expressing his great anger at El Othmani and his companions allowing the passage of the French Education Law in the Moroccan Parliament. (10) Benkirane considered it a disgrace that history should record the passage of this law during the era of the Islamic party, after the conservative Istiqlal Party fought to Arabize education during the reign of the late King Hassan II. Reported him severing his relations with a number of leaders, led by the Ottoman. (11)

And because Benkirane knows well how to exploit the available spaces, and knows where he stands, he went out himself in order to defend the former General Secretariat after Morocco’s decision to normalize its relations with Israel, stressing that the decision goes beyond the prime minister’s role in the corridors of government as he described it, but he attacked in At the same time, some party members and leaders tried to overturn the ideological background of justice and development and find a "juristic justification" for normalization, stressing that these changes in established positions do not happen overnight. (12)

The second challenge that the new old Secretary-General will face is undoubtedly the reunification of internal ranks before looking at the external political arena, and this task does not seem easy in any way. During the last exceptional national conference, heavyweight leaders such as Najib Boulif, the former delegated minister in the transport and governance sectors, and Bassima Hakkaoui, the former Minister of Solidarity, Family and Women, called for not voting for Benkirane, supporting Abdel-Abed in his place. Al-Aziz Al-Ammari” as a non-confrontational organizational figure who can unite the party and prepare for the regular conference. (13) Bolev added that the party's leadership "does not take place through a live broadcast on Facebook," according to what the "Hespress" website revealed. (14)

Despite his victory twice, reaching the General Secretariat, and dropping the idea of ​​repeating the elections within a year, Benkirane wanted to send reassuring messages to his opponents within the party before his supporters. Adding: "I know that some people imagine that we will easily repeat the past, and that we will start again. Listen well, I am one of you, I am your brother Abdelilah Benkirane, I am not a football hero, and I am not Messi, but I will do my best." (15) But Benkirane did not achieve complete unanimity, because his daughter, Somaya Benkirane, criticized his choices for the General Secretariat. She commented on her Facebook account, saying: “With my love and appreciation for my father, I think that many of the General Secretariat’s choices are incorrect. I think I will expedite a decision The resignation you have long delayed.” (16)

The second part of the reconciliation process that Benkirane will work on will be related to the Movement for Unification and Reform, the advocacy arm of the party that has moved far away from justice and development in order not to bear the consequences of political decisions taken by the Ottoman government that contradict some of the religious background of the Islamic movement in Morocco. Benkirane tried a lot during his tenure to consolidate relations with the movement, as he had previously considered it the "mother of the party" that must be nurtured. (17)

After arranging the internal house, Benkirane will also need to restore the luster to his party on the political scene, as it is expected that the man - according to observers - will play a pivotal role in protecting the internal Moroccan situation from the opposition of the street, due to the great weakness of the political opposition inside the parliament after the parties competed without An exception for the no in the government, which made the opposition relatively weak, especially since the Islamists are without a parliamentary team because they did not get 20 seats in the last elections. This weakness in the opposition may pose a threat to the current government, which may have to confront the street's opposition directly, which is an angry and unstructured opposition. Signs of this opposition have appeared in the recent protests against imposing the permissibility of vaccination in the public space. Therefore, everyone, the government and the opposition alike, is counting on Benkirane’s populism in framing this opposition and trying to return it to the institutions, instead of throwing it into the bosom of a street that may be difficult to control, especially if the Akhannouch government takes decisions that citizens consider unpopular. (18)

Benkirane's return, then, comes with different bets among the various political parties, and it may benefit many of them with their different and conflicting interests at the same time, but in the end it raises deep questions about the future of the Islamic movement in Morocco, and the way in which it will face its challenges in light of its dependence until today on The leaders of the first generation of the movement in order to overcome its internal and external problems, a dilemma that Benkirane may have to solve before handing over the banner of the leadership of the Islamic party to a new generation.

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Sources:

1. Party from Ashes: An attempt to explain the results of the Justice and Development Party in the elections of September 8, 2021
2. previous source.
3. previous source.
4. Hossam Tammam, with the Islamic movements in the year. Madbouly Library.
5. previous source.
6. previous source.
7. previous source.
8. previous source.
9. Moroccan Islamists: From the bet of reform to the “crisis of organization,” a reading of the experience of the Moroccan Justice and Development Party (1997-2017)
10. Because of the “France of Education” .. Benkirane directs unprecedented criticism of justice and development
11. Benkirane suspends his membership in "Justice and Development" in protest against the legalization of cannabis
12. Benkirane: "Justice and Development" will not change its position on normalization under pressure
13. Behind the scenes of a long day that ended with Benkirane's return to the leadership of the Justice and Development Party
14. previous source.
15. What does the return of Benkirane to the head of Moroccan justice and development mean?
16. previous source.
17. (Maroc: Abdelilah Benkirane de retour à la tête du PJD
18. What does the return of Benkirane to the head of Moroccan justice and development mean?