Istiqlal Party Parliamentarians Demand Departure of Hamid Chabat

After a group of Istiqlal Party (PI) members have denounced what they called the “individual decisions” of the party’s Secretary General, Hamid Chabat, calling for change to “restore the position of the party in Morocco’s political scene,” a large majority of Istiqlal parliamentarians issued a communiqué disowning Hamid Chabat and supporting the group of 14 dissidents of the Executive Committee, who are in the majority.

After the communique “disowning” Chabat signed by 14 out of 22 members of the Istiqlal executive committee, this Tuesday saw the launch of the second phase of the eviction of the secretary general.

Hamdi Ould Errechid, a member of the executive committee of the party and one of the main opponents to Hamid Chabat, succeeded in bringing together the majority of parliamentarians of the PI, about 38 deputies out of 46 and 21 councilors out of a total of 25, to proclaim in unison the departure of Chabat, the current Secretary-General of the party.

The dissidents of the Executive Committee are in the majority: 36 Representatives out of 46, and 22 Councilors out of 24, including most of the tenors.

After members of the IP’s executive board called for a meeting of an extraordinary National Council to organize the Preparatory Committee of the party’s Seventeenth General Congress, the 58 signatories criticized Chabat’s controversial statements, erratic behavior, and conflicts sparked out of hand, expressing their “great concern” regarding the political isolation of the party.

They appealed to the party’s General Secretariat and  Executive Committee to condemn all arbitrary decisions taken by the Secretary-General in violation of the statutes.

The signatories support the 14 members of the Executive Committee who issued two press releases on 23 and 25 December announcing themselves as majority and thus preparing to take the on power of the executive committee.

Source :Morocco World News