MOROCCO ELECTIONS: AMBITIOUS PARTY PLATFORMS, BUT

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 RABAT 001155

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/16/2017
TAGS: PGOV PREL KDEM MO
SUBJECT: MOROCCO ELECTIONS: AMBITIOUS PARTY PLATFORMS, BUT
ARE VOTERS LISTENING?


Classified by DCM Wayne Bush for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (C) Summary: Less than two months before Morocco's lower
house elections, political parties have just begun to promote
their platforms, but this is still earlier than in previous
cycles. All parties have put more emphasis on their
platforms, which generally are more detailed, and they have
worked harder to publicize them. The platforms call for
promoting economic growth, slashing unemployment, and
combating corruption. There is not much difference between
the major parties' platforms. Overall, press reaction has
been critical of the parties' unrealistic goals, particularly
on the economy. However, some observers praised the program
of the Islamist PJD as more concrete and realistic. Still,
the parties are not likely to inspire much interest or voter
turnout, despite the new emphasis on platforms and efforts to
get out the vote. End Summary.

New Strategies Aim to Engage Public, Especially Youth
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2. (SBU) Compared to the last lower house election in 2002,
most political parties have issued their programs earlier,
and with greater fanfare in the summer of 2007. To date,
parties that have released all or part of their platforms
include the leftist Socialist Union of Popular Forces (USFP),
the Islamist Party for Justice and Development (PJD),the
nationalist Istiqlal party, the traditionally rural Popular
Movement Union (UMP),the pro-free market Constitutional
Union (UC) and the former communist Party of Progress and
Socialism (PPS). Rather than making vague promises to
improve GDP or produce jobs, many of this year's platforms
set out numerical goals and in some cases detail specific
strategies to achieve those goals.


3. (SBU) At the same time, several parties have labored to
create a new, rejuvenated image, claiming to have recruited
thousands of new members, grooming younger party leaders --
often with private sector experience -- and using these
"young wolves" to present their proposals to the public in
more dynamic and appealing ways. The candidate slates issued
to date are also in keeping with this trend; several voting
districts have seen entrenched old guard leaders replaced by
an enthusiastic if less experienced new guard. Parties have
departed from the usual format of conferences and rallies,
enlisting hip hop artists, soccer players and other
celebrities to pique youth interest in party-organized music
festivals, concerts and traveling caravans. On the
government side, earlier this spring the Moroccan Interior
Ministry set up a popular cell phone service for Moroccans to
check their registration status via SMS, and launched a new
website to communicate news about voter registration and the
importance of participating in political life.


4. (C) As a result of these efforts, this election season
has seen a more lively public debate than in years past in
the form of press articles and frequent television specials
reacting to the parties' proposals and debating the issues.
The government's recent campaign, however, has fallen far
short of its target of registering 3 million new voters,
tracking only a 1.6 million increase since 2002, and local
observers report that many Moroccans remain disengaged from
the political process, unconvinced that parties wield enough
real power to make a difference in their lives. Young
Moroccans frequently tell us they have no intention to vote.

Party Platforms Eerily Similar -- But the PJD Spins Well
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5. (SBU) In general, the major political parties have
focused on popular issues, each finding slightly different
ways to describe boosting the economy, creating jobs, and
fighting corruption. The leftist USFP (slogan: Choose your
Morocco) was the first to release a detailed program in early
June, based on 6 "axes" and consisting of 440 different
measures, the vast majority dealing with economic reforms.
The USFP promised to boost GDP growth to a rate of 7 percent
per year, create 2 million new jobs in 5 years, enact
legislation favorable to small and medium businesses, and
improve Morocco's investment climate. The social sector
received attention as well: the USFP plans to reduce
illiteracy and cut poverty in half over the next ten years
through their programs to integrate the informal sector into
the economy, provide a minimum salary to the most vulnerable
families, and guarantee government work for graduating
students.


6. (SBU) Complaining that the USFP had gotten wind of their

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program and copied it, the nationalist Istiqlal party
(slogan: Contract of Trust) was the next to debut their
program, followed by the PPS, the PJD, and several others.
So far, none of the parties have deviated radically from the
template set out by USFP, with each articulating similar
ideas in ways designed to appeal to the core concerns of
their electoral base. If these new platforms are taken as
evidence, traditional ideologies are no longer the motivating
force behind party agendas: witness the USFP's emphasis on
improving the business environment and attracting foreign
investment at the expense of more traditionally socialist
agenda items. Moreover, similarity among party platforms is
not surprising given that Moroccan voters are traditionally
motivated less by issues than the popularity of local
personalities and long-standing regional, tribal and family
loyalties.


7. (SBU) The program of the PJD, the most-watched party both
in Morocco and from abroad, has been subject to particular
scrutiny. Party critics perenially suspect that the PJD's
benign-sounding, democracy-friendly public face cloaks a more
sinister Islamist agenda, but the new platform raises no red
flags: like the others it prioritizes economic and social
reform, aiming above all to increase Morocco's GDP growth
rate from 5 to 7 percent per year and to reduce unemployment
(which currently stands at 20 percent in urban areas) through
job creation and better training.


8. (SBU) Still, a few things do stand out about the PJD's
platform (slogan: Everyone for a Just Morocco). First, they
invited to their press conference a group of well-known
economists and business leaders willing to vouch for the
soundness and pragmatism of the PJD plan. This has lent the
party greater credibility, and has helped them defend
themselves against accusations of setting unrealistic goals.
Second, the PJD conveys a consistent vision-- in itself a
relative novelty in Morocco's post-ideological political
environment-- and a clear focus on issues of social equity
and strategies for wealth redistribution. For example, the
PJD proposed increased taxes on luxury items and the
mobilization of zakat funds for financing micro-credit
lenders and other revenue-generating activities.

Everyone's a Critic
--------------


9. (SBU) Local press reaction to the platforms has been
mixed. While some have praised the parties' increased
transparency, improved communication strategies, and concrete
proposals, others have excoriated them for producing
unrealistic programs that fail to address the real economic
problems facing the country.


10. (SBU) The Justice and Charity Organization (JCO),
Morocco's large, semi-legal Islamist political organization,
has also weighed in on the parties' offerings with a public
statement entitled "The Masquerade of Electoral Programs."
The group, which has said it will continue to reject
participation in the political system but is not specifically
calling for a boycott of the elections, accused parties
across the spectrum of being ineffective and unaccountable to
the voters. The JCO particularly ridiculed the job creation
figures promised by the USFP and the Istiqlal party, implying
that for these parties to trumpet drastic reforms when they
have been a part of the governing coalition for the last five
years only exposes the poverty of their own governing policy.
A JCO boycott would affect mostly PJD voters, a fact not
lost on the government.

Comment
--------------


11. (C) The parties have chosen to push economic and social
reforms to the front of the debate. They also appear to
widely agree on fighting corruption, improving governance and
enacting constitutional reform to strengthen the role of
political parties. This reflects an acknowledgement among
political players and sophisticated voters alike that only
through meaningful structural reform of the political system
will any victorious party be able to muster enough weight to
make good on any of their campaign promises.


12. (C) Comment continued: More lively public debate on the
issues and substantive electoral competition is a sign of
increasing party professionalization and the maturing of the
political system, however gradual. U.S. assistance may have
helped spark this improvement through NDI and IRI-run,
MEPI/USEAID-funded party assistance programs. In a context

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of widespread disillusion with the parties and their lack of
real influence, voter turnout may be the most important
number to watch in this election. End Comment.


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RILEY