Liberals: Morocco will not hand power to Islamists

Moroccans have taken to the streets in thousands to call for an election boycott Morocco will not follow other North African states in handing power to Islamists when it votes in an election this week because it has a mature democracy, a leading member of a liberal alliance contesting the vote told Reuters news agency.
A moderate Islamist party says it believes it can win the November 25 parliamentary election, buoyed by the resurgence of Islamists in the wake of the "Arab Spring" uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya.
The Islamists' main challenger is the newly-formed Coalition for Democracy which is centred around secularist parties with ties to the court of Morocco's ruler King Mohammed.
"Morocco is different. It is not Tunisia, nor is it Libya or Egypt," Salaheddine Mezouar, Morocco's Finance and Economy Minister who is also one of the leaders of the coalition, said in an interview.
"Here in Morocco we have a plurality. Morocco has never known one-party rule. Moroccan political parties have practised democracy and are well-educated, which makes an outcome of that kind [an Islamist victory] improbable," he said.
"To my knowledge, the Islamists in Morocco are very far from winning first place, but at the end of the day it is the ballot boxes which will decide."
The election is a test of the king's commitment to respond to the uprisings around the region by moving his kingdom closer to democracy and ceding some of his powers to elected officials.
The vote will almost certainly remove the present government, which many Moroccans associate with corruption and nepotism. Whoever takes over will nevertheless be no less loyal to the monarch.
Thousands of Moroccans protested in cities across the country on Sunday, urging for a boycott of a parliamentary election later this week called by the pro-reform February 20 movement.
The protesters say that the vote, due to take place on November 25, will not be truly democratic. Morocco’s ruler, King Mohammed had made reforms earlier this year in the face of several anti-government uprisings across the region. The vote is set to be a test to those reforms.
There were conflicting reports over the number of demonstrators which was set at 5,000 in the center of Casablanca, according to witnesses, while authorities claimed they were only 2,000.
In the capital Rabat, another 2,000, including some Islamists, turned out, AFP reported. But the police put the figure at a thousand.
Slogans on placards included calls to boycott the elections and jibes at the corruption of politicians.
“In the absence of a democratic constitution, these elections are a waste of money,” a student in his 20s, Karim, told AFP.
"We do not have any problems with those who call for a boycott," said Mezouar in the city of Meknes, about 150km east of the capital, where he was on the campaign trail.
"But the problem that arises if you propose a boycott is, what's the alternative? Should we leave the country without constitutional institutions? ... We are betting on a big turnout in this election."
Meanwhile at a Tangiers protest, where one police officer put the number of protesters in Tangier at less than 1,000, a group of protesters carried a mock casket draped in white with the words “parliamentary elections” written across it.
Demonstrators chanted “We are not voting. Long live the people” and “We are not voting because we are not cattle.”
About 200 police officers, equipped with metal riot shields, helmets and truncheons, cordoned off the square but there were no clashes, Reuters reported.
King Mohammed had backed constitutional reforms which handed over some of his powers to elected officials. But he had kept his final say on issues of defense, national security and religion.
The palace wants the election to clear out a government associated in the minds of many Moroccans with graft and replace it with new faces who will implement the king’s reforms.
The vote has pitted a party of moderate Islamists, who swear loyalty to the king, against a coalition of mainly liberal parties with close ties to the palace.
The movement in support of the boycott is unlikely to derail the election because it does not resonate with the majority of the population, who are not politically engaged and revere the king.